A place to call home
by Assassin's Creed Master
Summary: During the night when the walker's attacked the ski lodge, how would things change if Carver and his people never showed up? Will Walter forgive Nick, will Rebecca give birth to her baby, and will the group band together as one and head to Wellington where they can live their lives in peace? (Written with A Writer With Mixed Interests).
1. Chapter 1: walker invasion

**A place to call home**

**Chapter 1: walker invasion**

**Warning, if you have not played the Walking Dead Game Season 2, this story contains spoilers.**

**Greetings my fellow Walking Dead author's. Here I bring you my next story, but I cannot take full credit for this one. This story was written with the help of author _A Writer With Mixed Interests_. Both of us worked on this story together. Be sure to check out her stories sometimes.**

**Anyway, as you can tell by the description, this story is an "What if?" story. What would have happened if Carver never shown up at the ski lodge during the walker attack. I will be taking a break from There's always hope until this story is finished because I'm thinking up some ideas for it. **

**To make this story a little different, we decided to add it some features to make it look like the game like the choices and what they affect. You'll see what I meant.**

**And I bet ya'll thinking "Blah, blah, blah, this author talks to much.". Here's the first chapter and hope you all enjoy the story and any questions, let me know. **

* * *

After the wind turbine began to rapidly spin out of control that would attract walkers, the former cabin group and the ski lodge quickly ran outside to shut it down. The transformer nearby had overloaded and Kenny and Luke volunteered to check it out, leaving Clementine, Carlos, Nick, and Sarita to shut down the wind turbine. They had to be fast.

Carlos opened up the power box to the wind turbine, but all he could see inside was darkness. He turned towards Nick and Sarita for help. "Does anybody know how to do this?"

Clementine turned towards Nick and Sarita, but neither of them had a clue either. She sighed and stepped forward. "I can do it."

"Okay." Carlos nodded, taking out his Glock 17. "We'll watch your back."

Clem took out her butterfly lighter and lit it, now she was able to see inside the wind turbine. She immediately grabbed the hanging key and twisted it into the lock, shutting it off.

"Good work, Clem," Nick praised, nodding at her.

The all-too familiar groaning of walkers could be heard nearby. Clementine, Nick, Carlos, and Sarita began shooting at them.

Clementine fired all her remaining rounds towards eight walkers advancing towards her, but she tried to save bullets now that they did not have much ammunition left. She took out six of them, but when she pulled the trigger again, the gun only clicked.

The walkers moved closer towards her, but before she knew it, they were both shot down. Clementine turned towards her savior to see it was Carlos, who quickly told her to escape.

"Quick, go!-" Carlos cut himself off when he felt a walker almost grab him from behind, but he was swift to escape and was able to kill it, but he lost his rifle in the process that the dead walker collapsed on.

He did not have time to retrieve it and quickly ran back towards the ski lodge.

Nick fired a few of his rounds towards walkers, but due to his bad aim, he was not making much progress. He decided to run away instead.

Clementine took her chance to escape before more of them showed up.

Nick ran and attempted to go for the ski lodge, but a walker came almost out of nowhere and grabbed his wrists, preventing him from moving anywhere. He struggled to break free.

"Somebody help me!" he pleaded, hoping that someone would hear him. He heard Clementine calling his name, and he turned his attention towards her. "Please help me!"

Unfortunately, Clementine didn't have a gun on her.

The capped man continued to struggle, but right as the walker was about to take a chomp out of him, it was shot dead. Nick turned and was shocked to see that it was none other than Walter who had saved him. Even after he had accidentally killed his partner, Matthew, on the nearby bridge.

Nick looked at him gratefully, and Walter lowered the gun and ran away.

Clementine followed Nick and Walter towards the front of the ski lodge where Carlos and Sarita were holding back the advancing walkers. There were at least twenty of them left, but they had to save as much ammunition as possible.

"Clem, get inside!" Carlos ordered, being protective of Clementine like a father-figure. He aimed his gun with the rest of his comrades and fired their remaining rounds towards the walkers.

Clementine ran inside the ski lodge where Rebecca, Alvin and Sarah were watching the entire event via a window. She ran into the living room and joined them in the now dark ski lodge.

"Clementine, are you okay?" Rebecca inquired with a hint of concern in her voice. It was hard to believe this was the same woman who wanted her gone a few days back.

Sarah stood at the window behind Alvin, watching fearfully as her father and friends shot down the oncoming walkers. She hoped everyone would come back unscathed, especially Carlos. If Sarah lost him, she wouldn't know what to do. She wouldn't be the same.

Clementine nodded and told Rebecca of the situation. The older woman suddenly looked worried.

Outside, Carlos fired two more bullets before his gun clicked. He was now out of ammunition and so were the others. They had nothing left to shoot with. "I'm out of ammo!"

"Me, too!"

"And me!"

The walkers were advancing towards them and the group members were left defenseless. What were they going to do now? If they simply ran, they would only be followed and trying to beat them down was not a good idea.

Before any of them could think of an idea, a gunshot echoed throughout the air and a single walker collapsed onto the ground face first.

Carlos turned towards the woods and saw two familiar figures appear, but neither of them were walkers. "Luke! Kenny!"

Almost immediately, Kenny took his rifle and shot a walker that was dangerously close to biting Sarita. When it was down, he gave Carlos a single, curt nod.

Kenny and Luke took down the last of the walkers, and luckily, everyone came out unharmed. Everyone that was watching inside breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you two okay?" Walter question in a concerned tone.

"Yeah," Luke replied, placing his hands to his knees and panting for a moment. "Yeah, we're fine."

"Now what?" Kenny spoke up.

"We don't have any more ammunition on us." Carlos explained, looking into the distance where they remaining walkers limped towards them.

"Kenny, do we have any more ammo?" Sarita asked her boyfriend in a quick tone.

"Inside," Walter stated. "Quickly now, they're gaining."

Walter and Kenny walked inside and grabbed another box by the kitchen counter, but Kenny stopped to talk to Clementine.

"We'll be back in a moment, darlin', there's just a few more that we need to take care of," he told her.

_("Just go!")_

_**("Be careful.")**_

_("Do you need help?")_

_("...")_

"Okay, but be careful." Clementine warned him. She believed it was fate that brought her and Kenny together again, and she did not want to lose him again.

"Kenny!" Sarita called out to her boyfriend for assistance whilst she reloaded some rounds into her Winchester Model 17.

Carlos and Nick were handed their shots of ammunition, and once again they were able to shoot the lurkers down. They all hoped that the noise wouldn't attract more of them.

Eventually, the walkers were all shot down, and Nick looked around, slightly panicked. "Are there...are there more of them?"

"No, I don't think so," Luke answered, his brown eyes scanning around.

Sarita looked around for a moment with her rifle aimed, but was relieved to see no more of them lurking around the area. "We should head back inside."

The others nodded in agreement and walked back into the ski lodge via the main entrance. On the way, Nick turned towards Walter and gave him a nod as to say "thank you" to which Walter had returned.

The group walked inside and set all of their weapons down onto a table. Clementine, Alvin, Rebecca and Sarah were standing there to greet them and hope they were okay.

Carlos sighed as he rubbed his hands through his hair, hoping his daughter had not witnessed what they had to do out there.

Sarah immediately ran to her father and embraced him tightly, to which Carlos returned.

"Is everyone okay?" Rebecca asked almost frantically. Alvin placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"We're okay, Kenny and I came back at just the right time," Luke replied, glancing at said bearded man. "There were some close calls when we ran out of ammo, but...yeah, we're fine."

_("It could have been worse.")_

_**("We got lucky.")**_

_("Is it over?")_

_("...")_

"We got lucky no-one got hurt." Clementine told them whilst she crossed her arms together. She sighed in relief nevertheless.

_(?) They will remember that._

"It's okay, sweetie, it's okay." Carlos soothed, gently rubbing his hand up and down her hair as he held her close. He let her go after a moment and placed her hands upon her shoulders. "Why don't you head back to bed? I'll be there soon."

"Okay," Sarah nodded obediently and headed upstairs to the room she would share with Carlos (which had two single beds).

"It's getting late anyway," Walter announced, but had a sad expression on his face. "It was Matthew's night to keep watch..."

"What?" Kenny asked, confused.

Nick took off his hat nervously rubbed his hand through his hair for a moment. Now it was the hard part he was not looking forward to, but like it or not, he had to tell Kenny and Sarita the truth.

Meanwhile, everyone else departed. Clementine went towards the living room area with Luke, Carlos went to put all the weapons away before he would check up on his daughter, and Alvin and Rebecca decided to go upstairs and sleep for the night.

Sarita took note of Nick's sudden change of expression and could not help but inquire. "Nick, is everything all right?"

"Uh, um...can I talk to you both for a minute?" Nick asked, looking almost fearful. "It's pretty important."

"We can talk in the living room," Kenny replied, a suspicious look in his eyes. He led the way to the living room, he and Sarita sitting on the sofa across from the fireplace, and Nick in one of the chairs. Walter was leaned against a wall, his arms crossed. He was going to let Nick handle this.

Nick sat down in the armchair and nervously rubbed his hands together, unsure on how this was going to go.

Sarita and Kenny sat together and waited for what Nick had to tell them that were so important.

Clementine and Luke had left the living room the second they noticed the four of them approaching and already figured out what was going to happen. For now, the duo went into the cafeteria area for a while to be out of the way.

"It's about Matthew..." Nick trailed off. "I...I saw him on the bridge, talkin' to my friends. I saw the gun, and I thought...he was gonna shoot 'em. I swear, I didn't hear anything he said to them. I didn't know he wanted to help, and he drew his gun on me, and..." He placed his head in his hands. "I shot him. It was an accident, I swear! Walter saved my life, even...even after I killed him. But he forgave me. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry." He looked up and gave the couple before him an almost pleading look.

Sarita and Kenny looked at one another, and then turned to Walter.

"I forgave him," Walter confirmed. But his expression remained stoic, in grief for his lost partner.

Sarita and Kenny turned towards one another as they held hands. Both of them looked both shock. Nick was not looking forward to seeing Kenny's reaction, especially after their first meeting.

Kenny was just like him: short-tempered, but Kenny was a lot worse than Nick. Any minute now, he could just charge towards Nick like a rampaging bull and beat the living hell out of him. He certainly was not looking forward to this.

Sarita turned back towards Nick after she and Kenny talked privately with a normal expression across her face. "Nick...I...Well, we're sad that Matty is dead. He was a good friend, but you said it was an accident. I forgive you, Nick."

Nick felt somewhat relieved to have forgiveness from Sarita, but now it was Kenny's turn.

For a few moments, Kenny was silent. His dark orbs stared into Nick's blue ones, almost as if he were trying to decide what to say next. But then he sighed.

"I guess if Sarita and Walt can forgive you, I guess I can too," he spoke up.

Nick let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding. No longer did he have to look at these people, people who gave him a kindness that he felt he didn't deserve, and feel guilty. "Thank you. Thank you so much," he said in relief.

"Don't mention it." Sarita assured with a slight smile across her face. However, a yawn soon followed and she stood up and proceeded to get some sleep for the night. "I think I'm going to head to bed for the night. You coming, Kenny?"

"I'll be up soon, hon," Kenny reassured her, smiling lightly. Sarita nodded and headed for the stairs.

Luke noticed, and turned to the little girl sitting across from him. "I think it's safe to go back there, Clem. You comin'?"

Clementine was too deep in thought to hear the older man talking to her. She was too busy looking at a torn of photo of the man who took care of her, protected her in this world, and became a father to her after her real parents died.

His name was Lee Everett.

She remembered the day when she was only little and did not understand this world too much. She remembered the drugstore where Lee torn a part of a photo off a family photo of him and his family. Before they left, Clementine had grabbed it and kept it for a long time without him know.

Clementine dazed out from her thoughts when she heard Luke calling her name. "Huh...? Oh, yeah, I'll be upstairs in a minute..."

Luke nodded, and turned in the opposite direction to head to bed.

_"You're strong, Clem. You...you can do anything."_ Some of Lee's last words replayed in the eleven-year-old's head over and over again. Clementine sighed and held the photo to her chest closely.

"Clem?"

The girl jumped and turned around; looking into Kenny's concerned eyes. "You okay?"

_("No.")_

_**("I'm okay.")**_

_("I don't know.")_

_("...")_

"Oh, yeah, I'm okay, Kenny." Clementine assured. She stood up away from the table and stood before the older, bearded man. "I was just...I..."

She could not say this without words. Instead, she handed the photo over to Kenny, hoping that would be reason enough to explain why.

Kenny looked at the photo in surprise, and then a profound sadness washed over him. "Lee. God, he was such a great guy. Thought the world of you. I miss him."

_("I miss him, too.")_

_("I wish he was here.")_

_**("It's my fault.")**_

_("...")_

"It's my fault...I was stupid." Clementine admitted, a tear dripping from her eye. She looked down towards the ground and felt a wave of guilt over her.

_(?) Kenny will remember that._

"Clem...darlin', that ain't true," Kenny told her softly. He knelt down and pulled her into a hug. "Don't you ever say that it was your fault, y'hear me?" he whispered into her ear. "It's all right now. I won't leave you."

"Thank you, Kenny." Clementine whispered, returning the hug to the older man she had been reunited with not too long ago. She leaned out of the hug and smiled as Kenny had his placed upon her shoulders and returned the smile.

"Go on up to bed, Clem," Kenny nodded towards the stairs. "You look like you could use some sleep."

Clementine nodded in agreement before she went upstairs and towards her bedroom down the hallway where the rest of the rooms were. She tried to keep quite along the way to avoid waking the others up.

She climbed into her bed and kicked off her shoes but kept her hat on like usual. She drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

**And that was the prologue to this story. Since I pretty much mentioned everything above, hope you guys and gals enjoy the story so far and hope you will keep tuned for the next chapter. Be sure to leave a review.**


	2. Chapter 2: making plans

**A place to call home**

**Chapter 2: making plans**

**Hey, everyone, thank you all for the feedback so far. A Writer With Mixed Interests and I appreciate it. Although this story may not be long in chapters, it will be long in words/chapter length, just thought I'd let you know. Enjoy the chapter, folks.**

* * *

Clementine woke up the very next morning to the smell of breakfast cooking. She climbed out of her bed and put her shoes back on, and decided to head downstairs. Sarah and Carlos were in the living room, and Luke and Nick were talking amongst themselves near the tables. Rebecca and Alvin were outside, and Walter was cooking beans. Sarita and Kenny were still asleep.

Sarah turned around and noticed her younger friend descending the staircase, and perked up. "Hi, Clementine! How did you sleep?"

_**("Great.")**_

_("Not good.")_

_("Okay.")_

_("...")_

"Best sleep I've had since we left the cabin." Clementine answered as she yawned and stretched out her arms. She walked into the living and sat down on the armchair.

"Anything I missed?" she asked Carlos.

"Nothing much. The wind turbine is still off and the ski lodge is safe." Carlos answered whilst he was looking at a map.

"I hope those bad people don't find us," Sarah commented innocently, fiddling with the buttons on her light blue jacket.

"It's okay, Sarah, they won't find us." Carlos assured, placing his hand upon her shoulder for comfort

Sarah couldn't help but smile at that. She was glad that her dad was still safe.

At that moment, Kenny and Sarita emerged from the stairs at the same time, both having just woken up. "Mornin'!" Kenny called to everyone.

"Morning Kenny!" everyone greeted simultaneously.

Sarita was dressed in her usual clothes but her hair was a mess. Nevertheless, she walked with her boyfriend downstairs with the others.

"Ah, just in time, because breakfast is ready!" Walter called. He'd clearly had a rough night, but nonetheless, he was going to be strong. "If someone could go get the two outside, that would be nice. Alvin and Rebecca, right?"

"I'll get them." Carlos said, setting down the Map as he proceeded to get his friends.

As the doctor left to fetch them, Clementine got up and decided to go and checkup everyone. She already checked up on Carlos and Sarah.

Clementine first decided to go and check on Walter. She stood on the opposite side from him whilst he was cooking.

_("What's cooking?")_

_**("How are you doing?")**_

_("Walter.")_

_("...")_

"Hi Walter. How are you doing?" she asked.

Walter glanced at her with a glum expression, but sighed. "As well as can be, despite the circumstances," he answered. "But I know Matthew would want me to carry on. I've still got Kenny and Sarita."

"I know how it feels." Clementine agreed whilst placing a hand upon her arm. "I lost my parents, Lee, and a lot of people from my old group. Kenny and I are the only ones left from our group."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Clementine," Walter responded. "I still stand by what I said last night; it must be hard growing up in the middle of all this. You're a little girl caught up in this...hell of a world now."

_("It's never easy.")_

_**("I'll be all right.")**_

_("I'm tough.")_

_("...")_

"I'll be all right." Clementine reassured the older man with a supportive smile across her face. "I've survived for more than two years in this world. As long as we stick together, we can all survive."

_(?) Walter will remember that._

"That sounds like a good plan, Clem," Walter replied with a light smile. "It's best to just stay positive."

Clementine nodded in agreement and decided to go check on some more of the group before breakfast.

Clementine approached Nick and Luke at the table, and both men were talking with one another. She decided to check up on them, especially Nick who came so close to death last night. "Hey guys." she waved.

"Hey Clem," Luke gave her a small smile, while Nick nodded at her. "You doing okay?"

"I'm doing okay I guess." Clementine answered, rubbing her hand up against her arm. "How are you guys?"

"A hell of a lot better now," Nick replied as he scratched the back of his neck, offering a weak smile. Clementine gave him a half-sympathetic, half-relieved smile in return.

"I think we're both good," Luke added.

"Okay. That's good, I guess." Clementine agreed. She turned back towards the kitchen to see breakfast was almost ready.

The doors to the ski lodge opened where Carlos, Alvin and Rebecca walked inside and proceeded over towards the dinner table. The others joined them and all took a seat by the table.

Like the previous night, the former cabin group sat on one table together while the ski lodge group sat on the other table together. Clementine had sat with Kenny the previous night, but today, she decided to sit with her new friends.

"Here you go, ladies and gentlemen." Walter said, holding a huge pot that he set down onto the table. He grabbed small bowls and placed the right amount of food into each one before pushing them over towards their guests.

There was a chorus of "thank you's" before everyone began eating. There were different types of chatter between both groups.

"So, anything we got to do today?" Kenny inquired.

"Well, did you fix the transformer last night?" Sarita inquired, raising an eyebrow as she took soft bites out of her food.

Meanwhile, on the other table, Carlos decided to point out something while they were all together as a group. He placed his spoon down and decided to ask everyone (including Sarah) an important question: "Does everyone think we're safe here?"

No-one answered and merely turned towards one another, followed by a shrug.

Clementine could not help but ask what he meant by this. Was it due to the walker attack last night?

_**("Why?")**_

_("Yes.")_

_("Uh..")_

_("...")_

"Why?" Clementine inquired.

"Well, we do want to keep moving north, but we have to think about some things." Carlos explained as he averted his eyes towards Rebecca. "Rebecca is close to giving birth to her baby now, and we were almost out of food until we came here."

"I think we could stay here awhile," Luke decided. "I mean, Walter said that there was plenty of food and supplies, right? I think Rebecca could have a safe birth if we stay at least a few weeks. What do you think?"

"I'm gonna agree to that," Nick announced.

_("I think we should stay.")_

_("I think we should go.")_

_**("Let's ask them.")**_

_("...")_

"I think we should, but we should ask them first." Clementine agreed, willing to try anything if it meant staying with both her group and Kenny's group.

_(?) They will remember that._

"I think it's a good idea, too." Rebecca agreed, placing her hands upon her pregnant belly to comfort her baby. "I'm not sure how long I can keep walking."

"I like it here," Sarah spoke up after she took a drink of water. "I hope they let us stay."

As if on cue, Walter approached their table. "How is everything?" he asked pleasantly.

"It's delicious." Clementine smiled, but she could not help but wonder how Walter, Kenny and Sarita could eat the same thing every day. She certainly would have lost her appetite.

"The breakfast is very good, thank you." Carlos thanked and was about to ask Walter about them staying for a while, but he decided to wait until breakfast was over.

"Do you need any help with anything after breakfast?" Alvin asked, willing to show their gratitude for giving them food and allowing them to stay here.

"I may need a few of you to help me move some supplies upstairs, if that's all right," Walter replied. "Kenny was wanting to work on something outside. You can ask him if he needs anything."

"Sure, we can help," Nick nodded. "It's the least I...we...can do."

Walter understood what he meant by this and gave him a nod in agreement.

"Alvin, Luke and I can help Walter. Clem, you and Nick should help Kenny with whatever he needs outside. Rebecca, you should rest easy for now. " Carlos suggested, acting as the group's leader like usual.

He turned towards Sarah and realized she was the only one who had nothing to do. She helped Sarita decorate the true last night, but apart from that, there was nothing much she would do around here.

"What can I do, Dad?" Sarah wanted to know. She loved to help out, and helping out was something that she very rarely got to do anymore.

Carlos was about to open his mouth to reply when Sarita came over with a medium-sized box.

"Hello, everyone, enjoying your breakfast?" Sarita greeted in a friendly tone whilst she set the box down onto the ground for a moment.

"Yes, thank you." Carlos answered, examining the box all curious like. He could not help but wonder what she had inside.

Sarah couldn't help but peer into the box before anyone could say anything. She pulled out some gold garland and saw some other holiday decorations. "Dad, look at all this! This is so cool!"

"Would you like to help me decorate the place, Sarah?" Sarita offered with a slight smile across her face. She and Sarah had bonded over such a short time and were now close friends.

Sarah nodded in agreement but she turned towards her father for approval of course.

Carlos allowed her help Sarita again. After all, she had nothing better to do other than read her book. "Okay, Sarah, after you finish your breakfast, you can help Sarita."

Sarah beamed; she was glad that her father was finally letting her get involved in things.

It wasn't long before everyone cleared their bowls, which were distributed over to Walter so that they could be put away for washing, and went over to their assigned tasks. Nick and Clementine walked outside to where Kenny was waiting.

"Hey, y'all, we need to start building a secure wall to put over the windows," Kenny instructed. "That way, no lurkers or bandits will be peekin' in."

Clementine took note that not every window around this place was boarded up and was glad to see Kenny one step ahead. She stood forward and offered her services. "What can Nick and I do to help?"

"Can you get me those pliers on that table over there?" Kenny asked, nodding in the direction of a small table full of tools. "Nick, hold up this wall for me."

Clementine nodded and walked over to grab the pliers on the table like Kenny had instructed. She handed them to him, but now there was nothing more she could do. "Anything else I could do to help?"

"You can just hold the board with Vanilla Ice over there," Kenny responded, earning a grunt from Nick in return.

Clementine chuckled slightly as she placed her hands upon the board and helped Nick keep it steady for Kenny to nail them down. Whilst Kenny hit the nails through the wood, it brought back a couple of memories to Clementine.

She remembered back in Macon when the group was held up in the motor inn. She remembered Larry and Mark building up a fence to block off their home. Sure, Larry as a jerk, but Clementine did feel safer with that wall. How she longed for the old days.

She wondered about Lilly, whether or not she was still alive. She desperately hoped for Christa to still be alive as well. Maybe she should tell Kenny what really happened...?

"Clem? Clementine?"

Clementine was pulled out of her thoughts as she turned to look at Kenny.

"You okay?" the bearded man inquired. "You can stop holding the board now."

"Oh. right." she nodded, taking her hands from off the board and placing them onto the next one. For now, she decided to talk to Kenny about Christa and the bandits later.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the ski lodge, Carlos, Alvin, Luke and Walter all worked together to carry some boxes upstairs near the bedrooms. Whatever were inside these things were heavy.

"Whew, those are heavy." Alvin admitted, setting the box down and wiping the sweat from his forehead. "What's in those boxes?"

"Oh, just some canned food, first-aid kits, water bottles," Walter listed. "We found all this when we first arrived."

"That must've been a lucky break," Luke commented.

"I am surprised none of this food was off date by now." Carlos admitted, walking back down the stairs with the others to fetch more boxes. He studied his surroundings and had to admit this place looked fantastic. "This place is amazing."

"Better than the cabin, anyway." Alvin responded, placing both of his hands into his pockets as they walked. He noticed Carlos and Luke give him a stare to say "Excuse me?" that caused him to shrug in response. "What?"

Carlos dropped the subject for now and picked up another box. "Let's keep bringing them up."

Nearby, Sarah and Sarita were decorating one of the support beams together to make the place brighter. Sarita stood on a ladder and carefully placed the decorations around, occasionally asking Sarah for a hand.

"Can you pass me the tape, please, Sarah?" Sarita requested, holding out one hand.

"Sure!" Sarah exclaimed, reaching out and picking up a roll of tape. As Sarita taped some garland to the railing, she commented again. "I really missed seeing Christmas decorations. It's been so long! One time I asked Dad why we couldn't decorate and he said that there wasn't anything to decorate with. But now we get to!"

"Christmas is a wonderful time of the year." Sarita commented, accepting the tape that she used to hold the decoration in place. She stepped back down from the ladder and observed their work together. "Looks beautiful. What do you think, Sarah?"

"It's really pretty," Sarah replied with a smile. "I can't wait for everyone to see it!"

"I'm sure they'll love it." Sarita agreed, picking up the box of decorations and proceeding over towards another support beam.

A little while later, everyone was done with their work for now and decided to relax for a while. It was around midday according to Walter's watch and now no-one else did not have much to do. For a place that had electricity, they sure could do with a TV. But then again, they would probably have no channels.

Kenny had the job of fixing the transformer that he and Luke went to fix last night, but without proper tools, they were unable to get it working. He decided to go and get it fixed now while they had light, but he needed someone to go with him, and that someone was the young girl with a hat.

"Hey Clem, you mind comin' with me to fix the transformer?" Kenny asked.

_("Maybe later.")_

_**("Sure.")**_

_("No.")_

_("...)_

"Sure." Clementine agreed, searching in her backpack for a moment until she retrieved a Glock 17 for protection. She placed it into her back pocket and followed Kenny out of the ski lodge.

"So Clementine, how you holdin' up?" Kenny wanted to know as the two walked towards the transformer. Albeit he was glad to see the little girl again, he couldn't help but worry for her.

"I've been doing a lot better since I met you again yesterday." Clementine answered, still somewhat surprised to see Kenny again. At first, she thought it was a dream.

"That's great," Kenny smiled down at her once they reached the transformer. "So...that group in there. How did you meet 'em?"

For a moment, Clementine debated on whether or not to tell the truth. But eventually she decided that the truth might be the best, but she decided not to include the part where they locked her in the shed. She didn't want to cause any more drama.

"It's a bit of a long story." Clementine admitted, but she decided to tell him anyway whilst he got to work on the transformer. "I was with Christa about a week ago, but she left to fetch some wood and we were attacked by bandits. We got separated and I fell into a stream. After I woke up and got back onto the land, I found a dog but he bit me and could have killed me. I had to kill him..."

Clementine paused for a moment and rolled up her sleeve, revealing her bandages up. She decided to continue the rest of her story.

"I was too weak to carry on, but Luke and this other man Pete rescued me and brought me back to the cabin. Carlos stitched up my arm for me and they allowed me to stay. But Pete got bit and died, and this man named Carver arrived. Carlos told me he was dangerous and we had to get away before he chased us. We headed north for a week until we found your guys." Clementine ended the rest of her story and rolled her sleeve down.

By now, Kenny had paused his work and approached Clementine. "I'm sorry all that happened to you, darlin'. You shouldn't have to go through what you did." He paused. "So this Carver, why is he chasing you?"

"Carlos told me they use to be apart of their community, but they escaped because he was crazy. Now he's trying to get them back. I think we're safe though. He doesn't know where we went and can't exactly asked directions, I guess." Clementine answered, but there was another reason and that was what Luke told her yesterday.

He mentioned the most important thing in this world was family, hinting either one of the members were his family or Rebecca's baby was possibly his own, but Rebecca would not cheat on Alvin, would she?

"Well, you're safe here with me, I can promise you that," Kenny reassured her, giving her a smile. "Now, can you hand me that screwdriver there?"

"Sure." Clementine agreed, feeling relieved to hear those words from Kenny. She knelt down whilst handing him the screwdriver. "So, do you know exactly what to do? It all looks...Confusing."

"It was at first, but Matthew taught me what to do when Sarita and I first got here," Kenny explained. "...Matt was a real good guy."

Clementine sensed a hint of sadness, but decided to change the subject for now and ask about Kenny's story. "S-o-o-o-o, how did you escape in Savannah? Christa told me you were trapped in an alleyway and Ben was stuck. She mentioned you put Ben out of misery, but after that, they couldn't see what happened to you exactly."

"Boy, Clem..." Kenny took off his hat and ran his fingers through his graying hair, unsure if he wanted to share that information with the little girl. "That's a long story, but I'll tell it." He continued to work on the transformer. "I was almost bit plenty of times. One of them fuckers even grabbed my arm and tried to take a nip outta me, but I pinned 'im against a wall and slammed him hard." Here he pounded his fist against the wall. "Not too much happened for quite a while, but then I took shelter in this old restaurant. My beard, it was probably longer than holy hell itself." A laugh. "But then Sarita came along, and we grew pretty close pretty quickly. But we traveled north, like y'all, and found this ski lodge. Matthew and Walter were suspiciously nice, but Rita and I grew to trust 'em."

"Wow. Sounds tough." Clementine admitted, but when he mentioned Sarita, she thought back to the previous night when Sarita had mentioned Kenny didn't talk about before and when Kenny rudely snatched a box off of her. "Kenny, can I ask you something?"

"Anything," Kenny glanced at her, his eyes softening.

_("Nevermind.")_

_**("About last night.")**_

_("...")_

"Last night, Sarita mentioned you didn't want to talk about before and I saw when you snatched the box off her. Why did you snatch the box? And why don't you want to talk about before?" Clementine asked him two questions, but she hoped she was not being too pushy, especially after the day she watched when Katjaa and Duck died.

That made Kenny stop completely. Slowly but surely, he put down the screwdriver and glanced at Clementine, but he stared at the ground.

"I just...can't," he decided to say. "I can't talk about my wife, or my son. It's too much." Kenny massaged his temple, and Clementine noticed a more noticeable worry-line appearing on his forehead. "I still miss them, Clementine." He sighed and looked at the child before him. "I didn't mean to snatch from Sarita last night. My fuckin' temper..." He let out a sarcastic, bitter laugh.

_**("It's okay.")**_

_("It was rude.")_

_("Have you done that before?")_

_("...")_

"It's okay, Kenny, I know it's hard and the feeling never gets any better." Clementine reassured in a soothing voice, gently placing her tiny hand upon his shoulder. She knew it was hard to talk about their loved ones, especially her parents and Lee. She wanted Kenny to be okay, but he wouldn't be better until he opened up to his girlfriend. "Just talk to Sarita. You love her, Kenny and she loves you. I promise, it will make you feel better to let it all out. I miss Katjaa and Duck too, but they would want you to continue and still be the same loving father and wife they once knew."

_(?) Kenny will remember that._

Kenny turned around, giving Clementine a small smile. "You're probably right, Clementine. I'll talk to Sarita later. You were always the one with morals." He glanced at the transformer, then back to her. "I'm about done here. Ready to go inside?"

"Yeah, let's go." Clementine agreed, standing back to full height as the two of them began to walk back towards the ski lodge. She was happy and relieved to see her words had got through to Kenny.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the ski lodge, Alvin and his wife Rebecca were sitting together on a couch, cuddling whilst the fire kept them warm. Rebecca grunted slightly and rubbed her stomach that caused the attention of her concerned husband.

"You okay, Rebecca?" Alvin inquired with worry in his voice.

"I'm fine, just a little-omph!" she groaned more and leaned up slightly, placing her arms around her pregnant belly. She was definitely not fine. "Oh, ow!"

Alvin was now beginning to panic and supported their wife and held one of her hands as they stood up together. "Rebecca, what's wrong?" he did not need an answer when he spotted water leaking across the floor. "Oh, good God. Carlos!"

Carlos quickly walked into the living room. Nobody needed to tell him anything when he saw the water as well. Sarita and Sarah were watching as well with horrified looks in their eyes.

Carlos was already one step ahead fortunately for Rebecca and quickly debriefed the situation to everyone here. "Everyone just stay calm. Alvin, you and I need to help Rebecca back to your room. You have a big bed. Luke, you and Nick fetch my medical supplies from my bag. Everyone clear?"

"We're on it," Luke nodded curtly, and he and Nick went to fetch Carlos's bag.

"Anything we can do?" Kenny offered.

Carlos had only just noticed Clementine and Kenny had returned, but he heard his question nevertheless. He answered him whilst he helped Rebecca stand up and supported her. "No, I think this is everything we need. Sarita, can you watch Sarah for me while I'm gone?"

"Of course." Sarita assured, turning back towards the young teenager for a moment who was busy watching the entire event with the others.

"Easy, Rebecca." Alvin soothed, holding one of her hands whilst using his other one to hold her up. Carlos did the same on the other side.

Slowly, Carlos and Alvin eventually got Rebecca upstairs and escorted her into the hallway where all the bedrooms were. They helped her into her room and carefully lied her down onto her bed.

"I just need my supplies and then we can begin." Carlos explained after helping Rebecca into her bed.

In the main area of the ski lodge, everyone could hear Rebecca's screams from downstairs and could not help but worry for Rebecca. All they could do at this point was wait.

* * *

**Chapter 2 is written, published and here for all of you to read. Looks like Rebecca has gone into labour and now it is up to Carlos and Alvin to help safely deliver her baby. Stay tuned for chapter 3.**


	3. Chapter 3: Alvin Junior

**A place to call home**

**Chapter 3: Alvin Junior **

**And here's chapter 3, folks. Wow, I've updated three chapters in one day. One for a Rio story, one for my other Walking Dead story, and now this chapter here. I wish all of my days I could do this, but unfortunately, everyone gets busy. Anyway, here's chapter 3, happy reading, folks.**

* * *

Luke and Nick ran into Rebecca's room and handed the doctor his supplies before joining the others downstairs. All they could do now was wait until the baby was born. Who knows how long it was going to be?

The group members decided to do different activates whilst they waited. Clementine sat in the armchair with her hands placed together, Kenny paced up and down the room slowly, Luke and Nick sat at the table, Sarah sat on the sofa reading her book, and Walter Sarita cleaned the dishes.

Every once in a while, though, Rebecca's screams would distract them. Kenny looked at the stairs while tapping his foot impatiently. Clementine frowned, why did Kenny seem so worried?

Walter and Sarita got done with the dishes in a short amount of time, and joined the group shortly thereafter.

An hour had passed and nothing had changed. Rebecca could be heard screaming in agony and Carlos and Alvin could be heard encouraging her. Quite often, Luke or Kenny would check outside the ski lodge to make sure her screams did not attract walkers, but surely she was not that loud.

And she wasn't, because not a walker was in sight. But soon, all of Rebecca's screaming stopped. But there wasn't the sound of a baby crying, or even anything else.

"Oh, no..." Luke feared the worst.

But a noise pulled the group out of their temporary sorrow. The sounds of a baby shrieking filled the room, and sighs of relief could be heard everywhere. The baby seemed to be okay, but what about Rebecca?

They wanted to go up and check on Rebecca, but for now, that was none of their business. All they could do was wait for either Rebecca, Alvin or Carlos to appear any minute now. Hopefully everyone was going to be okay.

Before long, Carlos had emerged from the top of the stairs and everyone below looked up towards him, anxious to hear what he had to say. After they expected the worse, they instead saw and heard something quite shocking yet relieving.

"It's a boy." Carlos declared with a smile across his face. "And Rebecca is going to be just fine." before long, he had to turn around and head back towards the bedroom to check up on her.

Conversations among the group were then at hand. Everyone was curious about both Rebecca and the baby, knowing that both were okay.

"Thank God," Luke muttered in relief.

"That's wonderful," Walter said with a smile. "It's good to know that they're both healthy."

"I wonder what they'll name him!" Sarah chirped.

_("I can't wait to meet him.")_

_**("We should let Rebecca rest.")**_

_("Should we go up?")_

_("...")_

"We should let Rebecca rest for now before we meet the baby." Clementine suggested, watching as all eyes met her.

Everyone agreed to her suggestion but nevertheless, they were still happy that there was a new life born into this world.

"I'm gonna go keep watch for a while," Luke announced, standing up and heading outside.

"I'll go and put the rest of the decorations away." Sarita said, picking up the box and making her way towards the storage room.

As she walked by, Clementine looked towards Kenny and nodded her head to the side. Now was the perfect opportunity to talk to Sarita and finally open up to her about his past.

Kenny gave her a look of obvious discomfort, but knew that she was right. It was important that Sarita knew about his life before meeting her. He waited for her to return from the storage room before calling out to her.

"Hey, Sarita? I need to talk to you."

"Of course." Sarita agreed, proceeding over towards her boyfriend. Kenny decided to escort her into the kitchen where they could speak in private. They didn't want to go to their room and disturb Alvin and Rebecca.

Sarita sat down in one of the chairs, Kenny sitting next to her. He placed his head in his hands, desperately wanting to reconsider. But he couldn't, Sarita deserved to know. The woman looked at him with kind, concerned eyes.

"I think it's time you learned what happened to me, Sarita."

"Oh." Sarita nodded in agreement and understanding. She had been trying for weeks to get him to open up. Why would he open up now? "Take your time, Kenny."

"Before all this...I was a married man," Kenny began, barely able to look Sarita in the eye. "My wife...her name was Katjaa. And we had a son named Kenny Junior, but we nicknamed him Duck. That boy was dumb as a bag of hammers, but dammit, I loved him. I loved them both." He glanced at Sarita, wondering if she had anything to say.

Sarita remained silent and beckoned for him to continue.

"We were comin' back from visiting Kat's sister in Memphis," Kenny went on. "Stopped at a gas station and saw someone grabbin' my boy. Now, I thought he was kidnapping him, but it turned out to be one of them things. First time I ever saw one." Kenny gritted his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut as he recalled the next painful memory.

"This kid, Shawn Greene, noticed us and offered us a shelter for the night if we gave 'im a ride home. So we went, and the night went well. Met Clementine and Lee the next morning. Things were okay for a while, but then...I killed Shawn. His death was my fault. Fuck." Kenny face palmed. He decided to skip the part with the drugstore and the St. Johns. "People in our group died along the way, and then..." Here came the most painful memory out of them all. "Fuckin' walker bit Duck while bandits attacked our shelter." A look of anger contorted his features as he remembered the cause of it all. Ben.

It was getting harder now for Kenny to tell his story. "My wife...she couldn't take it..." He squeezed his eyes shut. The last thing he wanted to do was break down in front of his girlfriend. Kenny's voice became much lower. "She shot herself. She loved Duck too much to see him go off by himself..." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Lee took care of Duck for me; he shot him so that I didn't have to."

Sarita gasped softly, and swallowed the lump forming in her throat. Kenny had truly gone through some awful times. No doubt she couldn't blame him for his short temper.

"Later on, I found out that this kid, Ben, was givin' these fucking bandits our supplies," Kenny decided to continue; no matter how hard it was at this point. "They didn't seem to get their last package, so they attacked. It was HIS fault." He slammed a fist onto the table so hard that Sarita jumped.

"Lee got bit, day after I found out. Clementine went missing, turns out some fucker told her that he had her parents, and she believed 'im. Ben fell off the roof of our shelter and got impaled in the stomach. I had only one bullet in my gun, and I used it to shoot that asshole." Kenny sighed lowly and looked away. "That's when I got separated from Lee and the others. I was on my own for a hell of a long time, but then I met you."

Kenny looked towards Sarita, his story finally told, and wanted to see if she had anything to say.

Sarita was left speechless after hearing her boyfriend's story before he met her. Now she understood why he didn't want to talk about his past, but nevertheless, she appreciated him telling her.

Slowly, Sarita moved her arms around Kenny and embraced him in a hug. "I'm so sorry, Kenny, but thank you for telling me. I know it was hard for you to do."

"It's alright, hon," Ken replied, returning her hug. "Nothin' you could do." He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut to prevent the tears that were in his eyes from escaping. Luckily, Sarita didn't see this.

With that said, Kenny and Sarita could now continue their relationship without anything to hide from each other. They loved each other very much and would not let one another go. During the time they were hugging, Clementine could not help but smile at the scene. She was proud of Kenny for opening up to her like that, even despite the fact it was one of the hardest things he had to do.

"Hey, Clem!" the young girl felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. Clementine turned around to face an excited Sarah. "Dad said we're allowed to go see the baby now. Rebecca's ready now."

"He also said only two people can go up at a time." Walter joined in as he placed his hands upon his hips. "You and Sarah can come up first."

_**(Go and see baby)**_

_(Stay downstairs)_

Clementine nodded in agreement and followed the enthusiastic Sarah up the stairs and towards the bedrooms area. They stood outside of Alvin and Rebecca's room and decided to knock rather than just barge in. It would be rude of course. Clementine was the one to knock and only a second later they heard someone.

"Come in." Carlos could be heard inside.

Twisting the door handle slowly, Clementine stepped inside and a beaming smile rose across her face. Carlos stood with his back against the wall with his arms crossed together, Alvin sat on a chair beside the bed, and Rebecca sat in the bed with her legs under a blanket, and lying in her arms was a newborn baby boy.

"Hi," Sarah greeted quietly, yet shyly.

Rebecca looked at the girls and smiled lightly in return. She was gently rocking the sleeping baby in her arms. Alvin was looking extremely proud.

Rebecca beckoned for the duo to approach and when they did; she revealed her sleeping baby wrapped up in a blanket. "Clem, Sarah, we would like to introduce you both to Alvin Junior."

Clementine smiled widely as she eyed the baby sleeping beautifully in her mother's arms. "Wow, he's beautiful."

"Would you like to hold him, Clem?" Rebecca offered with a smile across her face.

_**("Can I?")**_

_("Are you sure?")_

_("No thanks.")_

_("...")_

"Can I?" Clementine requested, taking a seat onto the same bed as Rebecca. The older woman did not need to reply when she handed the young baby into Clementine's arms. The young girl smiled and held the baby close. "Alvin Junior. That's nice. You should call him AJ for short."

_(?) Alvin and Rebecca will remember that._

"Sounds good to me." Alvin agreed whilst he and his wife watched Clementine hold their baby.

Sarah looked at the baby, AJ, in admiration. "Oh, he's so cute!" she cooed softly. "It's been forever since I've seen a baby."

AJ then began to cry, making both of the girls jump. But Clementine gave Alvin and Rebecca the reassurance that she knew what to do, and began to rock the baby gently, whispering comforting words. At that, AJ immediately stopped crying and went back to sleep.

"Wow, you're a natural, Clementine." Rebecca complemented as Clementine handed AJ back into her arms. She looked over towards Clementine's shoulder towards the teenaged girl. "Sarah, would you like to hold him, too?"

Sarah wanted to hold him, but first, she turned towards her father for approval. Carlos gave her a smile and nodded once to tell her he could. She raised a smile and sat down where Clementine was sitting and waited patiently for Rebecca to hand AJ into her arms.

Rebecca handed AJ to Sarah, who took him and began to rock him gently.

"He's so little!" she breathed, a beaming smile crossing her lips. She turned to Alvin. "I think he looks like you."

"A perfect match." Alvin smiled.

"He's more handsome than you, Alvin." Rebecca teased her husband with a smile across her face.

"No argument here." the bigger man agreed. He took his glasses off for a moment and cleaned the lenses.

Carlos, Sarah, and Clementine all laughed softly. Rebecca and Alvin were always teasing each other.

Soon, it was time for the girls to leave, and Sarah handed AJ back to Rebecca before getting up quietly. The two girls bade the three adults good-bye before heading back downstairs.

"The baby's name is Alvin Junior, but it's AJ for short, and he's the cutest thing!" Sarah announced, but not too loudly. "Wait until you see him!"

"Luke and Nick are going to head up next." Sarita informed the girls as the mentioned men began to make their way upstairs to visit the baby.

Clementine decided to go and sit with Kenny and Sarita in the living room, but there was something on her mind that she was unsure if anyone here else thought the same. She decided to speak up to the adults sitting before her. "Kenny, Sarita, do you guys know that AJ is going to need baby supplies? Like bottles, clothes, and other things baby needs?"

"I asked, the doc said that they stocked up on baby formula a while ago," Kenny replied. He seemed to actually feel a little better now that he'd gotten his story off his chest. "And we've got some extra blankets. As for clothes, well...I don't know."

"Oh. Looks like we got nothing to worry about then." Clementine sighed in relief, but she then realized yet another problem at hand. She knew her group was planning this for a while now, but she never actually got the chance to ask. Now was a better time than any. "Kenny, Sarita...?"

_("I need to ask you something.")_

_**("Can my friends stay?")**_

_("Nevermind.")_

_("...")_

"Do you guys mind if they stay just for a few weeks?" Clementine requested, not wanting her friends to go out there in the cold, especially with a baby. "It's getting cold outside, Rebecca's in no condition to move and they barely have any food left."

"I don't see any problem with that." Sarita agreed with her usual smile, but she turned towards her boyfriend to see his answer.

For just a moment, Kenny looked reluctant. There were a couple of them that he had a problem with, Luke and Nick for instance, but he seemed to tolerate the others. It didn't take too long to come up with his decision.

"I reckon they can stay," he decided. "Might be nice to have some extra help preparin' for the blizzard coming in a few days. Gonna be damn cold."

Clementine smiled towards Kenny's answer. At first, she could have sworn he was going to refuse, especially after the previous night when he did not want the group to stay during dinner. "Thank you, Kenny, thank you, Sarita. I'm glad I have you both."

_(?) Kenny and Sarita will remember that._

Sarita held Kenny's hand and gave him a look to say, "I'm proud of you.". She was beginning to like the new Kenny.

Sarah looked somewhat worried when she heard the mention of a blizzard. She could just about tolerate the cold as it was, and she would be no match for a blizzard.

"I hope this place is warm for when that blizzard comes," Sarah announced. "I don't like the cold."

"Not a fan of it either, kid, but that's Mother Nature for ya," Kenny shrugged as he glanced her way. Being from Florida, he likely wasn't used to such weather either, but moving along in the apocalypse could have possibly changed that.

At that moment, Luke and Nick had returned from Rebecca's room and proceeded down towards the stairs with the others. By the looks on their faces, they had met AJ and meeting the young baby had gave them quite some hope, especially Nick who was a complete mess after the death of his uncle.

_("Will this place hold?")_

_("I'm worried.")_

_**("We'll be okay.")**_

_("...")_

"We'll be okay." Clementine reassured with a smile to tell them everything would be fine. She was not about to give up hope yet. "This place is pretty big and strong and if we finish boarding up those windows, we can be safe here."

"That's great, that's just perfect," Nick replied with a light smile. Albeit he was still a broken man, he seemed to finally start to recover. It would be awhile before he was back to his old self, but he would get there in time.

Luke looked relieved at Clementine's statement, and he turned to Sarita and Kenny. "You two can go up and meet the baby. I mean, if you want to."

Sarita took her boyfriend's hand and both of them proceeded upstairs. Luke and Nick took their places on the couch and decided to wait until they had something to do for a while. They already did some work today and dinner was not until later. There was the wind turbine that was still switched off and the weather was not windy today. But the place was bright as it is and did not need to waste power.

Clementine took her hat her hat off for a moment and scratched her hair. Luke, Nick, Walter and Sarah all turned towards her. They had never seen her without her hat off before.

_**("What?")**_

_("Stop looking at me.")_

_("This is awkward.")_

_("...")_

"What?" Clementine asked when all eyes met her.

"Didn't know your hair was that curly, Clem," Luke teased in a lighthearted tone.

With a frown, Clementine began patting all around her hair. For some odd reason, this gesture made her think of Lee, but she wasn't about to let that show, so she just smiled in return.

"Can I try it on?" Sarah inquired, moving over from the armchair to the couch to sit next to Clementine. She took off her red glasses. "I'll let you try on my glasses!"

Clementine was surprised to see how different Sarah looked without her glasses. She cherished her hat very closely for two reasons: it was her dad's hat and it had Lee's blood on it. But she trusted Sarah since they were best friends and it's not like she was going to run off with it.

_**(Give Sarah hat)**_

_(Don't give Sarah hat)_

"Uh, sure, but you can keep your glasses on." Clementine replied, offering her hat over towards the teenaged girl.

"Okay!" Sarah chirped. Clementine handed her the hat, and she placed it atop her head. It was a little small on her, but she still enjoyed wearing it. A wide smile crossed her lips.

"I guess it's important to keep your mementos. They help remember the ones we love." Clementine explained, turning towards each of the members here, certain that they had something to remember their loved ones.

_(?) They will remember that._

Walter held up a picture frame of him and Matthew together, Nick held his Uncle Pete's watch in his hand that Clementine had returned to him, Luke held his machete in his hand that was given to him by his father. Sarah had nothing to remember any of the people she knew, but she had her father and he was all she needed. But she cared for all of her friends.

Sarah took off the hat and placed it back on Clementine's head, and Clem gave her a light and grateful smile after adjusting it.

"So...what now?" Nick called out.

_("We could relax.")_

_**("We could work.")**_

_("I don't know.")_

_("...")_

"We could try to get some work done when Kenny returns, I guess." Clementine suggested with a slight shrug. She turned towards Luke who was sitting beside her and moved closely towards him so only he could hear him. She beckoned for him to come closer and when he did, she whispered into his ear. "Do you think Kenny and Nick look alike?"

Luke frowned. "Uhh..." he coughed a little, and whether or not he was trying to hide laughter was unknown. "Why do you say that, Clementine?"

"They both have similar hair and both were a hat." Clementine pointed out the obvious. Was she the only one who noticed they shared some resemblance.

"I guess." Clementine agreed.

Before long, Kenny and Sarita had returned downstairs and joined the others in the living room after meeting little AJ. Both of them looked happy to see a new life in this world.

"He's going to be just like his dad when he grows up." Sarita said as she and Kenny stood together since they had nowhere to sit.

"A tough man," Kenny nodded in agreement. "Alvin's tougher than he looks."

"Any work that needs to be done?" Luke inquired.

"Well, I guess we could continue boarding up those windows." Sarita suggested.

Kenny, however, had another idea. He remembered Walter and Matthew informing him that there was a small shopping/pharmacy store not too far from the ski lodge that could possibly be filled with supplies. He remembered Walter mentioning walkers were roaming round the area, but that was a month ago and surely they would have moved by now.

"I was thinking about heading to that little store Matthew and Walter were tellin' us about," Kenny spoke up. "There should still be supplies. Anybody wanna come with me? Clem?"

_**("I'll go.")**_

_("I'll stay.")_

_("...")_

"I'll go." Clementine agreed, willing to help out and get out of this ski lodge for a while.

Luke stepped forward and gave Kenny a nod to tell him that he would come too.

"Hold on a minute!" Sarita called out to them and caused the trio to stop just by the ski lodge exit. Without explaining why she stopped them, she ran to the back of the ski lodge. She returned a moment later, holding a small cerulean ski jacket with a rainbow strip around the middle that looked like it would fit Clementine.

"Here, take this Clem." Sarita said, handing the small jacket over towards the young girl. "I know it's getting cold lately and I found this in the storage room. I figured it would keep you warm."

Clementine accepted the jacket and put it on and zipped it up.

_("I like it.")_

_("It's ugly.")_

_**("Thank you.")**_

_("...")_

She smiled when the jacket perfectly fitted her size and was grateful for it. "Thank you, Sarita."

"Of course." the woman smiled.

Now it was time for the group to leave. Without saying anything, Kenny picked up his Winchester Model 17 and led Clementine and Luke outside. Hopefully everyone would come back safe and sound.

* * *

**And that brings us to the end of chapter 3, folks. Rebecca has given birth to her baby and now she, Alvin and their baby Alvin Juniour are together as a family. Let us hope Clementine, Kenny and Luke are able to find supplies soon.**


	4. Chapter 4: finding supplies

**A place to call home**

**Chapter 4: finding supplies**

**Hey, everyone, here's the next chapter. I noticed a couple of guest reviews regarding questions and since they're guests, I can't respond to them in Private Messaging, but I will answer them here. Carver and his people are still tracking the group, but I will not say if they will make an appearance or not. And glad you all like the different story where Carver and his group never showed up. **

**That's it for that author's note. Here's chapter 4, enjoy.**

* * *

"So, where's this pharmacy?" Luke inquired as he, Kenny, and Clementine walked away from the ski lodge entrance.

"'Bout a half a mile up this way," Kenny responded, taking the lead. "There should still be a shit ton of medical supplies, and some food if we're extra lucky. We should be on the lookout."

"Right." Clementine agreed as she felt her back pocket for a moment to make certain she had her Glock 17 with her just in case. She walked in the middle between Luke and Kenny as they lead the way.

Before long, the three of them noticed a medium-sized brick building coming up their way. It had to be the store due to the sign that stood almost before them.

"This must be it," Kenny pointed out. He got out another type of rifle that he'd brought, a .22 caliber, and led the way once again. "I'll go in first, make sure we're in the clear."

_("Okay.")_

_**("Are you sure?")**_

_("Maybe we should go back.")_

_("...")_

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Clementine inquired, not wanting to lose Kenny again after being reunited with him for a short time. "Shouldn't we all go in together?"

"I'll be fine, darlin'," Kenny gave her a small smile. "I'll go in first, but we should all stay close, for good measure."

"Sounds good," Luke agreed.

"Okay." Clementine nodded in agreement and followed both men towards the store, but she and Luke slowed down slightly for Kenny to lead the way.

Luckily, the entrance door was unlocked, so the three of them entered easily. Kenny pointed his firearm all around just to make sure no walkers or people suddenly popped out.

"Look around," he practically ordered. "Make sure nothin' will make the jump on us."

Clementine nodded and took out her Glock 17 and carefully surveyed the store for any lurkers. She searched down a couple of isles and so far she found nothing. As Clementine went around the next corner, her foot came into contact with something and before she knew it, she felt down onto her stomach and panicked.

A walker trapped underneath an isle grabbed onto her ankle and attempted to bite her. She tried to break free with her free foot, but it would not let go. Her gun had slid over a few feet away and she tried to reach it, to no avail.

_("LUKE!")_

_("KENNY!")_

_**("HELP!")**_

_("...")_

"HELP!" she screamed, struggling to keep the walker from biting her.

Luke heard her and immediately ran to her aid. "SHIT! CLEMENTINE!" he yelled. He grabbed her hands and tried to pull her free from the walker.

Kenny heard this and ran after Luke. Clementine's golden eyes paid attention to the gun that had fallen, and Kenny followed them. He quickly picked up the gun and shot the walker point blank.

Luke helped Clementine to her feet and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay?"

Clementine panted a few times, obviously shock up from her near death experience. How many times was she going to come close to death? She certainly was lucky, but her luck might not last forever. "Yeah...I'm...I'm okay...Thanks..."

Luke took out his machete and began to look under the rest of the isles for any more lurkers.

Kenny smiled and patted Clementine gently on the shoulder, glad that she was safe.

Clementine smiled back and walked away, heading into the pharmacy (which luckily wasn't locked). She was pleasantly surprised to see lots of medical supplies that could be extremely useful. She walked over, and one of the first things she saw were painkillers that could be given to Rebecca. She announced this to Kenny and Luke.

"Guys, there's some pain killers here. And bandages, peroxide, and all other medical stuff." Clementine informed them whilst she looked around for something to carry them in. However, as she looked around, it brought back further memories. The pharmacy they were in during the time all this began. Lee's family owned it, but they all died.

"Great work, Clem," Kenny praised, giving her a smile and a single nod. He looked around and noticed a couple of large paper bags. "We can carry 'em in these bags." With that, he grabbed the bags and brought them over to Clem, distributing them to her.

"And I found some food," Luke called, checking the expiration dates on some cans and looking satisfied.

_("We should hurry.")_

_("Are you sure they're not expired?")_

_**("Looks like things are looking well.")**_

_("...")_

"Looks like thing's are beginning to look up." Clementine admitted, grabbing anything useful and throwing them into the bags, but at the same time, she did not want to carry too much that would slow her down.

"Here, let me take it," Kenny offered, removing one bag from Clementine's arms. Luke came in carrying his own paper bag that was a little bit smaller.

"Thank you." she thanked before taking another bag and filling it up with much more supplies.

After a couple of minutes, the trio had filled up at least six bags, carrying two each. Half of them were filled with medical supplies whilst the other half was filled with food. They had plenty of canned food at the ski lodge, of course, but hearing the same thing every day would make you go off your food a little.

Before it was time to leave, Clementine walked towards the shop counter and noticed a puzzle book that was filled with puzzles such as crosswords, word searches, and other various puzzles.

_**(Grab a puzzle book)**_

_(Leave puzzle book)_

She decided to grab one of them and placed it inside her jacket. "Guess it's something to do for a while."

"Clem, you comin'?" Luke called, and Clementine quickly walked to the store exit, puzzle book now in her jacket.

"Oh, just wait until they see all the supplies we were able to get!" Kenny blurted out, grinning in satisfaction. Once again, he led the way out of the store, but stayed close to Clementine and Luke.

Clementine nodded in agreement as the trio continued their walk.

* * *

It didn't take very long to get back to the ski lodge, and they all got there unscathed. Nick and Sarah were having a light conversation in the living room, Alvin and Rebecca were still upstairs, and Carlos and Walter were in the kitchen, so Sarita was the first to greet them.

"Kenny, Clem, Luke, you're all back!" Sarita greeted, hugging her boyfriend for a second that was followed by a kiss on the cheek. She leaned back and smiled when seeing their bags. "Wow, looks like you all made some progress. What did you get?"

"A lot of stuff," Kenny replied, going over to one of the cafeteria tables and placing the bags down. He focused his attention to Carlos. "A lot of medical supplies in here."

Carlos' interest picked up when he heard the mention of medical supplies. He made his way over towards the tables and searched inside the bags and was surprised to see the amount of supplies they found. "Wow, painkillers, bandages, peroxide, and food too. Well done, guys, you all did well."

Carlos took some painkillers to give to Rebecca after the amount of time it took her to give birth without any proper medical supplies. He was able to deliver the baby and stitch Rebecca up, but that did not mean he intended her to suffer.

Clementine decided to head to the living room area for now to get near the fire and warm up.

_**(Give puzzle book to Sarah and Nick)**_

_(Keep puzzle book)_

She sat down on the armchair and took out her puzzle book. "Hey, any of you guys interested in puzzles? I found a puzzle book in case anyone was bored."

"I like puzzles!" Sarah exclaimed with a big smile. "Dad and I used to do them all the time!"

For a moment, Nick looked sad, but no one in the room seemed to notice. Pete used to do crosswords in the Sunday paper before all this. He changed his expression quickly before anyone could become concerned. "Huh? Yeah. Yeah, I like 'em, too." He offered a weary smile.

"Well, knock yourselves out." Clementine said as she placed the book onto coffee table, but then she realized she had not brought a pen or pencil. "Oh, shoot. I forget to get a pen."

"Here, I got one," Nick announced, taking a pen out of his pocket and holding it up for the girls to see.

_**("I'm going to talk to Kenny.")**_

_("I'm going to talk to Walter.")_

_("I'm going to sit here for a while.")_

"You guys enjoy playing. I'm going to talk to Kenny." Clementine informed the two as she stood up and decided to go and help Kenny out who was going outside with Luke to make some progress on boarding up the windows.

She briefly watched as Sarah opened up to the first page and started a word search, and then turned to go outside. Kenny and Luke immediately noticed her on arrival.

"Hey Clem," Kenny greeted.

"Hey Kenny, hey Luke." Clementine greeted the two older men whilst they were hammering some blank of wood down. "Do you guys need any help?"

"If you could hammer down the lower part of this board for us, that'd be great," Luke gave the little girl a smile. "Kenny and I can get the upper parts."

"Sure thing." Clementine agreed, picking up an extra hammer on the ground before she began to nail down the bottom part of the boards.

Clem secretly hoped that the noise of the hammering wouldn't attract walkers, but somehow this place reminded her of how things were before. It seemed as though the walkers or any type of bandit were a million miles away.

Clementine got too deep into her thoughts that she accidentally hammered her thumb. She yelped out in pain and clutched onto her thumb, hoping it would ease the pain. "Oh, ow! Shoot!"

"What's wrong?" Kenny asked in concern. He bent down and took a look at her thumb. "Damn, that looked like it hurt. You all right?"

Clementine groaned a little and slowly took her hand from her thumb. She was able to wiggle her thumb slightly, but it was now left swollen slightly from the injury. "I don't think it's broken, I think it's just bruised and a little swollen. I'll be okay."

"I'll be back," Luke said, walking into the ski lodge. He returned a minute later with a small bandage and wrapped it around Clementine's thumb. Clementine gave him a grateful look.

"Thanks Luke." she smiled, now feeling the pain ease in her thumb. She picked up her hammer in her other hand and continued her work. It was now a little difficult to hammer since most people were right handed, but she could cope with using her other hand.

* * *

For about an hour, the three continued on with their outside work, and luckily there wasn't a scuffle one between Kenny and Luke. Soon, they were all done, and it was time to go back inside.

"I think we're prepared enough for this storm now," Kenny told Walter, who looked content with the boarded up windows.

"When will it arrive?" Sarita asked.

"Not sure, but the temperature seems to be lowering," Walter replied.

_("Is it enough?")_

_("It's going to be tough.")_

_**("We'll be safe.")**_

_("...")_

"We'll be safe." Clementine reassured, confident this place was strong enough to protect them from the storm. "As long as we have shelter and a fire, we'll make it through this."

_(?) They will remember that._

Everyone present agreed with her statement and could not help but smile. Each of them trusted Clementine and some of them had to admit that she acted more of an adult and a leader than any of them did.

"You're right, Clementine, it's good to think positive," Walter nodded at her. "I'm gonna go start dinner now. Maybe we can have something different tonight since we have some more variety."

"Finally," Kenny agreed.

Clementine decided to go and help Walter pick something for dinner tonight. She followed Walter into the kitchen and spoke up when the older man began searching through the bags they found. "May I help the chef tonight?"

"But of course!" Walter replied pleasantly, sorting through the cans. "What sounds better to you, Clem? The beef stew or the vegetable curry?"

"Wow, they both sound good." Clementine admitted, placing her hand to her chin to think this one over. She liked both options and wished they could choose both, but they had to save as much food as they could. Regardless of how much they had, it would all run out in the end.

**("Beef stew.")**

("Vegetable curry.")

"Hmmm, well as I much as I like the vegetable curry, I think I'm going to choose the beef stew." Clementine answered.

"Well then, beef stew it is!" Walter exclaimed as he opened the large can. Clementine kind of admired how strong he was after losing Matthew, but then again, maybe he was used to loss, like she was at that point.

She watched as Walter prepared the now-clean pot for the meal to be cooked in. "Clementine, would you mind setting the tables?"

"Sure thing." Clementine agreed, picking up four bows at a time and walking over towards the tables to set them down. She returned a couple of times to get more bowls and place them back at the table. At one part, she had to remember how many people there was to get the right amount of food. There was herself, Kenny, Sarita, Walter, Luke, Nick, Carlos, Sarah, Alvin and Rebecca. That was ten of them all together.

"That's good for right now, Clem, thank you," Walter gave the eleven-year-old a grateful glance after she was finished. "Why don't you check on your friends until dinner's ready?"

Clementine nodded and headed out into the living room to check on the others.

Meanwhile, Carlos had returned after attending to Rebecca and now he let the husband and wife rest for a while. He sat down on the couch in the living room with his daughter and Nick, who were both working on puzzle together. It did surprise him slightly since Sarah and Nick did not interact much.

"Hi, Dad!" Sarah chirped when she saw him. She flipped through the pages of the puzzle book. "Look at all these cool puzzles Nick and I are doing! It's really fun."

Carlos smiled lightly. It was a rare time that Sarah ever got to do anything interesting, and it made him happy to see her happy. He was glad that Nick was able to entertain her.

Nick turned around for a moment and gave Carlos a nod to which the doctor returned to him. He turned around and continued helping the young teenager with the puzzle back for a while.

"It looks fun, Sarah." Carlos admitted as he leaned back and folded his arms together. He felt like he could drift off to sleep for a while, but he still was worried about letting her out of his sights, even despite the fact people he knew were inside and it's not like Sarah would just run away.

Since Carlos was in the armchair and Nick and Sarah were together on the couch, Clementine sat down on the ground near the fire, sitting in Indian-style. She smiled when seeing Nick and Sarah work together on a puzzle. It was nice to see everyone was going well. "Hey, guys. We're having beef stew for dinner."

"Nice change from beans," Nick replied, crossing off another letter and handing the book back to Sarah.

"I bet it'll be good," Sarah added, smiling at her younger friend.

"Beef stew is one of my favorite dinners." Carlos agreed before a yawn followed out from his mouth.

The doors to the ski lodge opened and in walked Kenny and Sarita after they went to turn on the wind turbine when the ski lodge was beginning to get dark, but the wind was quiet tonight. Nevertheless, they were going to keep an eye out occasionally to make sure the previous night's events did not happen.

Kenny and Sarita had only took one rifle with them when they left the ski lodge, but when they came back, they now had two rifles with them.

"Did anyone own a rifle?" Sarita asked, turning towards everyone present for an answer.

Most of them shook their heads. Luke had a Glock 17 and a machete, Nick had his rifle in his room, Clementine was too small for one, Sarah did not use guns, and Walter had a Glock 17.

"It's mine." Carlos announced as he stood up and approached the duo. "A lurker had almost got me last night and knocked off my gun, and I didn't have the time to retrieve it." he explained whilst accepting the gun into his hand that he went to place with the other weapons.

"We may need to turn it off again in case the wind picks up again," Kenny spoke up, referring to the wind turbine. "Should be a quiet night, though." He and Sarita walked off to the kitchen.

Clementine looked outside and saw that it was beginning to snow lightly.

In the past, she loved it when it snowed but nowadays, it was the kind of thing that could kill you if you got too cold. But she was in the ski lodge where it was nice and warm, and safe and sound.

For the first time in a very long time, Clementine felt safe and secure. She was around good people that she could trust, she was in a nice and warm shelter, and for once, she wasn't starving.

Since the baby had been born, Alvin had come downstairs and the first thing he did was talk to Carlos. "Hey Carlos, can Rebecca eat something now? I heard dinner was almost done."

"She can eat, but not too much." Carlos answered whilst folding his arms together. "Give her half a plate of dinner."

"I'll let Walter know." Clementine said as she got up and proceeded towards the kitchen where Walter was cooking dinner. "Walter, can you give Rebecca only half a plate? Carlos said that's all she can eat for now."

"I'll do that," Walter noted as he continued to stir the pot of beef stew. Clementine's mouth watered, it smelled absolutely delicious. She was getting hungry and hoped that dinner would be ready soon.

"I'm hungry," Sarah told everyone as she walked into the kitchen. She would probably do some more puzzles with Nick later.

"Dinner won't be long, sweetie." Carlos assured but he could not blame her. He too was pretty hungry.

Whilst he was cooking, Clementine decided to make conversation between them. "For someone who use to be a teacher, you're a great cook."

"Why thank you, Clementine," Walter accepted the compliment. "I took a cooking class in high school. Many years ago now."

_**("Sounds fun.")**_

_("Was it tough?")_

_("How long exactly?")_

_("...")_

"That sounds like fun." Clementine admitted. She always wanted to learn how to cook at a young age and her mother had promised to teach her when she grew up. "I always wanted to learn how to cook."

_(?) Walter will remember that._

Walter smiled lightly. "That's remarkable, not many children I know are willing to learn."

"I liked school a lot. I got through my first grade easy." Clementine admitted.

"I taught middle school, sixth grade mainly," Walter replied. He glanced at Kenny and Sarita, and then Luke and Nick. "You should have seen all the cliques going at war with one another then."

"I bet it was tough to keep people behaved and stop them from getting into trouble." Clementine stated whilst she turned towards Kenny for a moment. She decided to confess something with Walter and hoped he would not tell Kenny about it. "Back when Kenny and I were in Macon, Kenny and this other woman Lilly always use to fight all the time, trying to argue about leadership and what was best for the group."

"Really?" Walter raised his eyebrows. "Sounds like a dictatorship to me."

_("I guess.")_

_("A what?")_

_("It was worse.")_

_**("...")**_

When Clementine looked confused, Walter continued. "A dictatorship is when one person has all the power over a community."

"Oh." she nodded to assure him she understood, but before long, Clementine decided she wasted enough of Walter's time and decided to leave him with the cooking. "I'll guess I'll talk to you later, Walter."

"Good to talk to you, Clem," Walter nodded as she walked off.

* * *

After a little while had passed, dinner was ready. Clementine and Kenny helped Walter set dinner down onto the tables before everyone joined around the table. Everyone joined around the table with the exception of Alvin and Rebecca. Walter gave a plate of dinner for Rebecca to Alvin since she was too weak at the moment to get up and come down the stairs to join them.

"Okay, y'all, we need to talk," Kenny announced.

"About what?" Carlos asked whilst folding his arms together.

"We need to make a plan," Kenny explained. "We can't stay in this ski lodge forever.

"Where else can we go?" Clementine inquired, but she had the feeling she already knew the answer.

"But we have to stay until that cold passes, right?" Sarita asked, not willing to go out into the cold weather of Carolina.

"We should stay until Rebecca's up for travelling," Luke agreed. "She needs a few days' rest, at least."

"I'm not sayin' we HAVE to leave right this second," Kenny retorted. "I still say that we go north, get to Wellington."

"Wellington?" Carlos repeated, thinking back to the previous night when he heard Kenny mention this place to Luke and Nick, but he did not ask what it was. "What is this Wellington?"

"Christa and I were heading there." Clementine answered to the doctor as everyone took a seat on a table. This time, both groups were mixed. Clementine, Kenny, Luke, Carlos and Sarah sat on one table together. Nick, Walter, and Sarita sat on the other table.

"Supposed to be a big camp near Michigan," Kenny repeated his words from the previous night. "Supposed to be cold as fuck, so the walkers will freeze."

"Still sounds like bullshit," Nick muttered as he ate another spoonful of beef stew, although he wasn't heard this time.

"How did you hear of this Wellington?" Carlos inquired just after he took a sip of water.

_("I think we should head there.")_

_("I think we should stay here.")_

_("We should do what's best for the group.")_

_**("...")**_

Clementine decided to stay out of this conversation and began to eat her food. She sat in between Sarah and Luke as they continued to eat into their dinner that tasted delicious.

"Sarita found a map blowin' in the wind a couple weeks back, before we made it here," Kenny responded. "It led from nearly this point all the way to Wellington. There were sketches of a big camp, looked safe enough."

Clementine glanced up at Kenny. Oddly enough, this was a bit similar to how she and Christa had found out about Wellington.

"Hmm, and how big is this camp?" Carlos asked yet another question when his interests perk. If this camp was safe and strong, it could be a good place to keep his daughter safe with the rest of their friends.

"Big enough to be a neighborhood community, I suppose," Kenny shrugged. "Hell if I know for sure."

"Well, I suppose we don't have anywhere else to go at this point." Carlos admitted, unsure on an alternative place to go to except for Wellington. He and the rest of the group did not really have a plan when Carver returned, other than to head north towards the mountains where they thought it would be safe.

Before long, dinner was over, and most of the group had retired to bed for the night. Clementine bade Kenny and Sarita goodnight and retreated upstairs to her bedroom. She wondered how many more nights she would be able to sleep in this comfortable bed before the group would move on to Wellington.

* * *

**That brings us to the end of this chapter, folks. With both groups together as one and with all of their supplies, they're plans are to head to Wellington. Does it truly exist? Is it really a place where they can live in peace? Keep your updates open for the next chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5: old friends

**A place to call home**

**Chapter 5: old friends**

**Here I bring you chapter 6, folks. Nothing much to say in this author's note, other than to enjoy and be sure to leave a review or two. They help bring chapters here quicker. **

* * *

Clementine slowly opened her eyes after a goodnight's sleep, but instead her eyes meeting her comfortable bedroom, instead, she was inside a very familiar RV. She panicked slightly and leaned up, wondering what in the world had just happened. One minute she was in her bedroom and now she was in the RV that the group used at the motor inn to escape the bandits.

She looked at her hands and appearance, and to her surprise, she could not believe it. She was nine-years-old again and wearing the same dress she always wore during the first three months of the walker apocalypse. At first, she considered running, but then she turned around and sitting next to her was a familiar face. "Lee...?"

What was he doing here? Wasn't he supposed to have died? But here he was, alive and well, his gentle brown eyes looking down at Clementine in concern.

"What's wrong, sweet pea? Did you have a bad dream?" he asked. His deep yet smooth voice sounded just how Clem remembered.

_("I thought you were dead.")_

_("What...?")_

_**("I...I...don't...")**_

_("...")_

"I...I don't..." Clementine looked to the right where Ben was keeping guard over Lilly who was sleeping against the RV couch with her hands tied behind her back. The teeanger had a Glock 17 in his hand. She turned towards her left where Kenny was driving the RV, and with him were Katjaa and Duck, who were both sleeping.

She turned back towards Lee, confused to what was happening right now. She was speechless.

Was everything that happened beyond this point a dream? That would mean that Lee never died, and Omid, Christa, Sarita, and the cabin group never existed. Clementine looked up at Lee to make sure that he was still there, and he was.

"Hey, whatever it was, it's over now," Lee reassured her, smiling softly.

With everything she saw, could Clementine possibly change the fate of everyone she knew. She knew Duck was still going to die, regardless of what happened next, but she might be able to save Katjaa, Ben, Omid, Christa, Chuck. She knew her parents were still dead of course, but that did not mean it would affect Lee's fate.

"Lee. Duck's got bit." Clementine stated the obvious, but she tried to keep quiet to avoid Kenny hearing. "He's...He's going to become a walker."

"Clem, we don't know what exactly happens yet," Lee whispered. "Maybe he's just sick."

But Clementine shook her head in disagreement.

"Lee, I'm not stupid. I know it's going to happen to anyone...Even my parents...I know they're gone." Clementine confessed whilst he played her hands together. She did not want to say it, but after everything she learned, she could not deny it.

_(?) Lee will remember that._

Lee was certainly surprised by what his adoptive daughter had just told him. Earlier today, she had been pretending to talk to her parents on her radio like usual (little did he know she was actually speaking to someone else) and now she just admitted to her parents being dead.

Lee sighed and looked down. He was probably remembering having to butcher his brother, who had likely gotten bit and turned. At that, he pinched the bridge of his nose. Clementine was returning his concerned look from earlier, so Lee spoke again.

"I'm okay, Clem. Just...thinking. It's not your fault."

Clementine looked at the ground.

**_(Tell Lee about stranger)_**

_(Don't tell Lee about stranger)_

She decided to tell Lee about the man on the radio.

"Lee...There's something I need to tell you." Clementine confessed as she took out her walkie talkie and handed it over to Lee, but she kept it off to avoid the man talking any moment now. But at least this was before she told him they were heading to Savannah. "Lee, remember that car we found with all the supplies? The guy who owned it contacted me on my walkie talkie. I wanted to tell you, but I thought you would be mad. I didn't tell him anything though."

_(?) Lee will remember that._

Lee looked a little surprised, but luckily didn't seem angry. He looked at the walkie-talkie and placed it to the side, and looked back to Clementine. "Thank you for telling me, Clementine. I'm glad you were honest and I'm proud of you for that."

Clem smiled lightly, she was more than glad that Lee was alive. But now she was wondering how she was going to save everybody from a certain death.

Whilst they were hear, Clementine decided to ask Lee a couple of questions she had never got the chance to ask him, and the first one was about Larry. "Lee. When we were trapped in the meatlocker, what made you want to help Larry? He left you for dead and was always mean to you. What made you want to help him?"

"Clem, I want you to know that every life has value," Lee explained. "And that includes Larry. Helping kill him wouldn't have made things better for me."

"Oh." Clementine nodded in agreement to assure her guardian she understood. Whilst they were on the topic, she decided to tell him about her nightmare since it would be a while until they reached the train. "Lee, do you want to know what my dream was about?"

"Sure, sweet pea. You can tell me anything."

"I was eleven-years old and I was with this new group." Clementine began her story but decided to skip out the part of the events of Savannah. If history's events repeated, it would be strange for Clementine to know all of this. "There were seven people. Luke, Nick and his uncle Pete, Carlos and his daughter Sarah, Alvin and his wife Rebecca. We were all together trying to escape from this man named Carver. He was dangerous and wanted to get us. A dog attacked me in my dream too, but I had to kill it. It almost killed me, but Luke and Pete saved me before walkers got to me. At one point, I was left with a choice to save Nick or Pete, but Pete got bit anyway. I tried to help him but it was no use. We arrived at this ski lodge and Kenny was there with this other woman Sarita and this man named Walter."

Lee nodded every few seconds or so to let Clementine know he was listening.

"We stayed there for a while. Walkers attacked us one night and everyone could have died, but Kenny saved us with Luke. After that, we all stayed together and tried to head for a place called Wellington that was suppose to be a safe fortress where everyone could survive and live freely. But then I woke up and here you were. I was...It was like I was a different person, Lee. I had my hair cut short to stop walkers or people from grabbing me, I knew how to use a gun, and did what I could to survive."

Lee looked surprised. Clementine couldn't tell what he was thinking about at that exact moment. "That must've been some dream. Do you think it was trying to tell you something?"

Clementine was about to answer with it was a warning for the future, but that would sound silly, even in this day and age where the dead roamed the Earth. However, she did have an alternative answer for him nevertheless.

_("That I'm alone.")_

**_("What I need to do to survive.")_**

_("I don't know.")_

_("...")_

"I think it was telling me what I needed to do to survive. I think I should cut my hair short and maybe you could teach me how to shoot? I know it sounds a little crazy, but after being with you, I know that no matter what age you are or how tall you are, a gun is what saves your life from now on."

Lee gave the little girl a smile. "I think you're absolutely right, Clem," he said. "When we find the time, I'll teach you everything you need to know." They still had Carley's Glock 17 in their possession, so they could use that.

"Thank you, Lee." the young girl smiled widely. She drifted her attention back towards the sleeping Lilly and then her expression changed to a curious one. She turned back towards her guardian. "Lee...Why did you let Lilly back into the RV after she shot Carley? She could be dangerous."

They were both glad that Lilly wasn't awake to hear that. Lee sighed, looking over at Lilly as well. Ben glanced at them nervously, but then turned away and kept quiet.

"I don't know, Clem," he admitted. "Do you think we should have left her?"

_("Yes.")_

_("No.")_

**_("I don't know.")_**

_("...")_

Clementine was not sure how to respond to that. Now she knew how tough it was for Lee to be the one to handle all the tough choices. "I...I don't know...She could be dangerous, but if we left her, would we be any better?"

"We would be leaving her to die," Lee responded. "We may have done the right thing. It's just like I told you, every life has value."

"I guess." Clementine skeptically agreed, but like it or not, she knew for a fact there was going to be times where they would have no choice but to take a life and it would be someone who was not a walker.

"Why don't you try and go back to sleep, Clementine?" Lee suggested. "We'll be on the road for awhile."

"Okay." Clementine nodded in agreement as she closed her eyes and lied her head down against Lee. The older man smiled and placed his arm around Clementine as she slept. With their motor inn gone, it was going to be a while until they found somewhere safe, but together, they could win this, especially with Clementine's future knowledge.

* * *

**Well, well, this was certainly surprising. Has everything that Clementine has experienced turned out to be a dream all along? If you wish to find out, stay tuned for chapter 6.**


	6. Chapter 6: déjà vu

**A place to call home**

**Chapter 6: déjà vu**

**Well, I can imagine some of you are either shocked or happy about the previous chapter. Here's chapter 6, folks, and with that said and done, enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Clementine's golden eyes fluttered open, and she sat up and looked at her surroundings. She was still in the RV, but now Lee was gone. Turning to her left, she was relieved to only see him talking to Kenny and Katjaa. So the events taking place when she was eleven really had been a dream.

Lee walked back and approached Clementine. "Hey sweet pea. We're a little delayed, there's a train blocking our way."

The train. Clementine remembered the train clear as the day.

And she was well aware of the homeless man named Chuck living in the boxcar, but that was not the only thing she remembered. Lilly had escaped and took their RV with them, though Kenny did mention she would not get far with the gas they had left. Nevertheless, Clementine made her way to the front of the RV and took the keys out of the ignition and kept them with her. She put on her backpack and joined the others outside.

Clementine turned and saw an ever-so-weak Duck holding onto his mother, and a profound sadness washed over her. He was going to die regardless of events, he was just too sick. She looked back at the RV as if to take a final look at Lilly before joining up with the others.

Like before, Lee had requested that she stay with Katjaa until they were done looking around and she decided that was the best thing to do right now since she was not around when Lee and Kenny figured out how to work the train. All she could do was sit tight and wait.

Clementine would occasionally sneak a glance over at Katjaa and Duck, and thought about talking to Katjaa. In the end, however, she decided not to, since that just might make matters worse. A voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Hey there."

It was Chuck, the kind homeless man in the back of the train cab. Ben was startled slightly and looked like he was about to call out for help, but the old man assured him he was fine before he panicked.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya'll." Chuck admitted before deciding to introduce himself to the strangers. "My name's Charles, but people call me Chuck. I live in that train back there and noticed ya'll coming through. Thought I'd come and greet you."

"Hi," Clementine smiled lightly at the old man.

"Hello there," Katjaa added.

Then, just as before, Chuck pulled out some pieces of candy from his pocket.

"Here. I got some candy if ya'll are hungry." Chuck offered as he took out two candy bars that he gave to Clementine and Ben. Before he long, he set his guitar and decided to go elsewhere. "I'm going to go and meet the other folks in the train. I'll try not to scare them."

Clementine could not help but smile at Chuck's humorous tone. She remembered how calm and kind he was. She began to eat her candy and enjoyed it's sweet flavoured taste.

After a good twenty minutes had passed, the train had roared to life and it was time to go. Lee and Kenny after meeting Chuck and announced that it was time to leave. However, Clementine could not help but notice that Lilly had not yet escaped like before. Did she just change history?

Speaking of Lilly, the woman had emerged from the RV and like last time, she had got free somehow. Since Clementine seemed to be the only one who noticed, Lilly turned around and ran down the road, desperate to escape.

Kenny heard her footsteps and called out, "HEY!" He immediately took off after her. He was faster, and caught her arm in a death grip. "The fuck d'you think you're doin', tryin' to run off?"

"Get the fuck off me!" Lilly demanded, attempting to fight Kenny off my simply slapping him, but that was not going to make him let go. "Why do you care where I go, you fucker!?"

"How in the fucking hell did you break free?" Kenny shouted.

"Doesn't matter, asshole!" she snapped at Kenny as she raised her leg and kicked Kenny in the crotch, causing him to groan in pain and finally release her. Not wanting to waste any more time, Lilly turned around and quickly departed down the road a second time.

**_("Kenny, no!")_**

_("Lee, stop him!")_

_("Stop her, Kenny!")_

_("...")_

Clementine watched as she and Lee caught up with Kenny, and she attempted to stop him from going after her. "Kenny, we can let her go!"

Kenny grunted in pain as he slowly stood back up, barely glancing at Clementine.

Lee watched as Lilly continued to dart down the road, empty-handed, with nothing to defend herself with or keep herself alive. He sighed, wondering what would become of her. "Ken...we can't stop her. Let her go," he agreed.

"Fine...fine," he snarled, walking away.

With that said and done, the remaining members of the group (including Chuck) boarded the train and now they were off to Savannah. Along the way there, Clementine turned towards Duck when his condition was getting worse and now she knew what was going to happen next, but how would she prevent Katjaa from killing herself? There had to be a way.

Katjaa had requested Lee to get Kenny like before and he proceeded towards the train cab. A couple of minutes later, the train came to a halt and now it was the time no-one was looking forward to, but Clementine had to figure out a way to stop Katjaa from dying.

Clementine nervously called out to Lee, beckoning him over with her tiny finger. Lee looked in her direction and took a couple of slow steps closer to her. She was going to tell him about Katjaa, to stop her.

"Yeah, sweet pea?" His voice was barely above a whisper, possibly to give Kenny and Katjaa some privacy with their dying son.

**_("Don't give Katjaa a gun.")_**

_("You have to be the one to shoot Duck.")_

_("Nevermind.")_

_("...")_

"Lee, you can't let Katjaa use a gun." Clementine explained, looking around his shoulder for a moment, only to see Katjaa comforting their son whilst Kenny tried to make excuses that there could be a chance for him to leave. "She...She...I think she might shoot herself."

_(?) Lee will remember that._

Lee looked surprised. He knew that Katjaa would be torn over losing her little boy, but shooting herself? But he felt a pang, and he closed his eyes. "You're right, Clementine. I'll keep the gun with me."

"That's good." she nodded in agreement, but deep down, she may have just saved a life.

Lee walked over to the soon-to-be-grieving couple. "Kenny, Katjaa..." he spoke sadly. "Let me have the gun."

"What?" Katjaa asked, slightly surprised.

"I'll take care of Duck," Lee offered, a sorrowful and remorseful look crossing his features. "No parent should have to do this."

Kenny looked at Lee, a sad look in his eyes as well, but handed the gun over with a sigh. He seemed to catch on to his son's death much quicker than previously. "Thank you, pal. Kat and I really appreciate it."

Clementine watched as Lee picked up Duck and carried him into the woods. A couple of moments later, a gunshot was fired. Kenny and Katjaa hugged one another for comfort just as Lee returned with a expression of sadness across his face.

Katjaa was crying softly to herself, and there were tears streaming down Kenny's face, but nothing came out of him. He had an arm around Katjaa's shoulders and was holding her hands with his other hand. Clementine looked down solemnly, knowing full well what had happened.

Before long, everyone had got back into the train and we're on their way to Savannah. Lee and Clementine were alone together in the boxcar and this time, Chuck had not told Clementine she was going to die unless she learned to protect herself. Either way she was going to learn.

"Lee." Clementine spoke up as she took a pair of scissors out of Chuck's bag. "Can you cut my hair and teach me how to shoot now? It's, going to be a while before we reach Savannah."

Lee looked down at her. "Sure, Clem. What do you want to do first?"

_(Learn to shoot)_

_**(Cut hair)**_

"Let's cut my hair first." Clementine decided.

"We can do that," Lee nodded. "Come sit in front of me."

Clementine obliged, sitting on her knees much like she had done before, and Lee got to work on cutting her hair.

"I got these to tie the ends off." Clementine said whilst digging into her pocket and retrieving two hair ties.

Lee took the hair ties and put them into Clementine's hair, giving her the pigtail style that she had before. Clementine patted her little pigtails and smiled in satisfaction. Lee placed her hat back on her head.

"You look a lot safer now, and a lot harder to grab," he pointed out proudly. "Now, let's get to work on teaching you how to shoot."

He helped Clementine to her feet and handed her the Glock 17 that had belonged to Carley.

Lee placed an empty bottle on a crate and began to teach Clementine the same basics again like taking a small breath, not to lock her elbows and to not be afraid.

With one eye closed whilst Lee had his hands over her ears, Clementine hit the bottle with perfect aim.

"Wow, on the first try," Lee spoke, astounded. "Good job, Clementine. But we should practice some more, to be sure."

Clementine nodded in agreement as Lee placed down more empty bottles. Like before, she hit every bottle without wasting a single bullet. She might be a better marksman than Carley, and ironically, it was her Glock 17 she was holding.

"Great job, Clem!" Lee praised, smiling proudly. Clementine looked up at him and smiled back.

"Oh, shit! HOLD ON, EVERYBODY!" Kenny announced loudly through an intercom. Clementine fell to the ground, and Lee nearly fell too as the train came to an almost immediate halt. Lee helped Clementine up and patted her shoulder.

This was a little weird. Why was the train ride a little short than before?

Stepping out of the train, their way was blocked off by a gas trailer dangling over a bridge. She remembered Lee and Omid had to jump to escape. Maybe this time they could prevent Omid from injuring his leg.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK, FUUUUUCK!" Kenny bellowed, looking up at their blocked way angrily.

"Kenny...please..." Katjaa murmured so quietly that Kenny almost didn't hear. Her voice was drained of life, and Clementine could see that she looked older than her years of age.

"Hmm, well I guess we could probably blast through this thing." Chuck suggested whilst he placed his hands upon his hips. But little did he know that would not be a good idea. "We have a train, after all."

"Chuck, are you sure that's-" Lee began, but a new voice interrupted them. Clementine knew exactly who was speaking.

"Hey, if you keep shouting, you're going to get your face chewed off!" Omid called from above with his girlfriend standing beside them. He was still the same humorous man like she remembered, and Clementine swore she would not be stupid enough to let her gun out of her sight again.

"Are you going to be a problem to us? We could've just kept going," Christa demanded, crossing her arms.

"No, we won't be trouble!" Lee called back.

"Come on, Christa, let's give these guys I break, they might help us." Omid suggested to his girlfriend with his beaming smile as usual.

Like before, Lee climbed up towards the ladder to greet the couple and a few seconds later, Clementine followed. They came back down to join the others after introducing each other to their group and now it was time to find a way to get that tanker down.

"Ya'll want some candy?" Chuck offered when they came down, but he did not get answer from the two.

"Any way we're gonna get that damn tanker down without destroyin' anything?" Kenny grumbled, looking up at the bridge.

Ben climbed to the top of the train, taking over watch as he had done before. Clementine glanced up at him and made a mental note to tell him not to tell Kenny or Katjaa anything about his betrayal of the group.

**_("What about the station?")_**

_("What about the van up there?")_

_("What about the train?")_

_("...")_

"What about the station?" Clementine suggested, gesturing her arm towards the station house a little ways down the track. But in her dream, Kenny was the one who suggested this.

"There could be something in there." Omid agreed with the young girl.

"Sounds like a good idea," Lee nodded. "Want to come with me, Clem?"

"Sure." Clementine agreed, but she already knew what to expect with what happened. She was prepared this time.

Christa gave Lee a curious look like she was saying "You're taking Clem with?", but she didn't say anything and went to sit down.

As for the others, Kenny took Omid into the train cab to teach him how to drive in case of emergency, Katjaa went to sit alone in the boxcar, Ben kept watch, Christa sat on the tracks, and Chuck sat on a boulder whilst playing his guitar.

Clementine walked alongside Lee, and couldn't help but still feel a little surprised that he was here, alive and well, not bitten at all. She wondered what was going to happen now that she knew of her parents' fates. She knew that she would be saving most everybody here from certain death.

Lee approached the door and jiggled the knob. "Locked," he muttered.

Clementine remembered the open window at the top of the door. "Maybe I can look inside?" she suggested.

"Sure, c'mere," Lee beckoned her over. Clementine walked towards him, and he lifted her up to the top. As Clementine began to unlock the door like last time, Lee began talking mostly to himself.

"Alright, once we get in there, we should-"

"I got it." Clementine announced as she pulled the lock off from the inside and leaned back.

"What? Really?" Lee asked in astonishment.

He put Clementine down in front of him, and the nine-year-old girl opened the door. It was dark and a little creepy, just how she'd remembered from last time.

"Well, I'll be damned," Lee commented.

"It's dark. Maybe you can use something to pry open the door." Clementine suggested, recalling the previous time when he used a wretch to keep the door open.

"Good idea," Lee noted, taking out the same wrench from his pocket, using it to keep the sunlight in. He looked towards the barred cage. "I think that's the tanker, in there."

Clementine looked up to see the small gap on the top of the cage, but at the same time, she knew there were three walkers in here somewhere, but in the darkness, she could not tell where. But if all went to plan, Lee's gun would slip under the cage. "Maybe I can go through that gap there. There's keys on the other side."

"You sure?"

Clementine nodded, and Lee boosted her up again. Now she was on the other side. She quickly grabbed the keys, knowing what would happen next. And she was right when she heard the familiar groaning.

Lee panicked and quickly took out his Glock 17 in an attempt to kill the walker, but the second emerged out from the darkness and caused him to drop his gun that slid into the cage just like last time. He began backing away towards the door.

Clementine took her chance and picked up the gun, but with the bars in the way, it was hard to get a clear shot. She closed one eye and fired three shots that killed the two walkers.

Lee placed his hands on his knees and panted hard, and then looked at Clementine with a soft smile. "Nice job, sweet pea," he praised.

Clementine smiled, but then the sound of a weak groan caught her attention and she turned around where the walker inside the cage began to limp towards her.

"Clem, give me the keys!" Lee ordered fearfully.

_**(Give keys)**_

_(Shoot walker)_

She obliged, and ever so quickly, he unlocked the cage and pulled her out. He placed an arm around her and killed the walker. He gave Clementine a hug, which she returned.

"Lee. I...I should have just killed it." Clementine admitted whilst she had her head rested into his chest. It felt relieving to still have him with her again.

"Don't worry about it, Clementine," Lee replied, smiling at her softly. "Just let me take care of it, okay?"

Clementine could only nod. Now she was expecting Christa to walk in as she had before, but this time no one entered. She took Lee's hand, enjoying the feeling of its softness, and was ready to head back out.

Before they left, Lee retrieved the blow torch before he and Clementine left the station and headed back to the train with the others. Nothing had changed since they left, and Chuck was still playing his guitar. Nice to see someone keeping their spirits up.

"Hey dude, you got a blow torch!" Omid greeted whilst eyeing the torch in the older man's grip.

"Yeah. There was some close calls, but we made it out alright," Lee smiled at his new friend.

Clementine decided to sit and talk with Christa for a moment, like before, and chat with her. It felt nice for the two of them not to have a strained relationship like they had when Omid had died. This was another thing that could be prevented.

A couple of moments later, Clementine looked up to see Lee dangling Omid over the edge with the blow torch in his hands to break the trailer that had now gone more over the edge.

"You're a real son of a bitch, aren't you?" Omid asked Lee whilst cutting through the cufflinks.

"Shut up and start cutting." Lee ordered in a bossy tone.

Clementine bit her lower lip nervously. What if things resulted the same way, Omid getting hurt? She hoped this wouldn't happen.

Ben looked off into the distance and his eyes widened at the horde heading towards them from behind. They must have followed the train. "Guys, we got company!"

"Shit," Christa muttered, getting up. Clementine followed suit and hurried into the train, looking up at Lee and Omid, who were still on top of the bridge. What was going to happen now?

Soon, Omid stopped cutting, and the gas truck came crashing down...in the opposite direction of the ladder. Clementine let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Omid and Lee hurriedly climbed from the ladder and bolted into the train.

The ladder had not fell down this time and both of them were on board, safe and sound. Next stop: Savannah.

"Thank God you're okay!" Christa exclaimed as her boyfriend climbed onto the train, embracing him. Omid returned the hug and gave her a comical smile that said, "You really think you're getting rid of me that easily?"

Katjaa got up and walked out of the boxcar, possibly to be with Kenny. Both parents were in very deep sorrow at the loss of Duck.

Is she okay...?" Omid inquired.

_("She's okay.")_

_("Don't ask.")_

_**("No.")**_

_("...")_

"No." Clementine shook her head slightly in response. "She and Kenny lost their son."

_(?) Omid and Christa will remember that._

"Oh." Omid lowered his head in sadness before shifting his gaze towards his girlfriend. Clementine knew why he had done this, and that was because Christa was pregnant.

At that, Clem clasped her hands together. Christa had lost the baby a little more than a day after it had been born, and she didn't know what would happen this time. If Omid survived, would the baby survive too?

There was only one way to find out and that was to keep them safe no matter what. Without the stranger interrupting them, things would be fine. However, regardless of what she did next, she would not be able to prevent Molly from ringing bells that caused Chuck to sacrifice his life for her last time. Maybe if she didn't get cornered this time, then maybe he would live.

* * *

**That brings us to the end of chapter 6, folks. What a twist of fate so far. Clementine has changed history by preventing Lilly from taking the RV, preventing Katjaa from committing suicide, and preventing Omid from injuring his leg. Now all they have to do is get to Savannah. **


	7. Chapter 7: Savannah

**A place to call home**

**Chapter 7: Savannah**

**Here's chapter 7, everyone. You ever wished there was a way to save Lee in season 1? Seriously, his death was one of the saddest gaming scenes of all time. Brought a tear to my eye. But his actions and words were what kept Clementine safe and he will forever be remembered...Chapter 7 is below...Enjoy reading.**

* * *

The train ride was uneventful for the most part, so Clementine just sat by Lee. During that time, she told him her real age and that her birthday had been several days earlier. She didn't know why she hadn't done this before.

"Well, happy belated birthday, Clem," Lee told her while rubbing her head affectionately.

"Thank you, Lee." Clementine smiled in response whilst she sat in Indiana style with her hands placed upon her knees. Since they still had some time to go, she decided to make conversation between them since no-one else except for Chuck was present. Everyone else was in the train cab and Ben was outside, leaning against the rail bars. "Hey, Lee...What do you think of Omid and Christa?"

Lee seemed to think about the statement for a moment before he came up with an answer. "They seem like good people, even if Christa might think we're untrustworthy. But we'll just have to wait and see."

_("I think she has trusting problems.")_

_**("Omid likes Civil War history.")**_

_("I hope they stay with us.")_

_("...")_

"You know, I think Omid likes Civil War history, too." Clementine spoke up, but she already knew this knowledge from her dream. It would just be best to pretend like she may know. "You both might have something to bond over. And he's a funny guy, I like him."

Lee couldn't help but smile. "I'll ask him about it when I get the chance," he decided. "Though he might seem more like a comedian than a history fanatic to me."

Clementine giggled in response.

"So, what do you think of my gun skills so far?" Clementine asked, changing the subject away from the Persian man.

"You're a good little shot," Lee complimented. "I'd say that you'd be going on to walkers in no time, but I guess you're already there."

"Yep." Clementine nodded in agreement, but she decided to play a little dumb for now. "I think Carley's gun gave me good luck."

Lee nodded as if to agree. "I think we should practice a little more when we find some more ammunition. It might do us both some good."

"It's good to keep practicing." Clementine agreed with her guardian.

Clementine stared out the boxcar, watching as now-abandoned buildings quickly zoomed by. They were still nowhere near Savannah, but it was nice to see things as if the world wasn't already in ruins.

* * *

It took the group until the next day until they reached Savannah. Taking everything they had left, the remaining group entered the city of Savannah and walked down the streets in silent. Lee had his Glock 17 out just in case and Chuck was carrying an old shovel over his shoulder after he decided to company them here.

Clementine was glad the strange was not here this time, and even if he was, no way in hell would she let him snatch her away from Lee again. Suddenly the bells began to ring, and the group looked around. Clem looked up and saw Molly's silhouette hurrying away.

"The fuck was that?" Kenny demanded.

"Hey! Hey you, up there!" Lee called. Clementine knew that wasn't such a good idea.

"Damn it, Lee, be quiet!" Christa hissed at him, turning to him with a glare. Clementine knew what would happen next, and her thoughts were confirmed when she heard the groaning and the shadows of walkers.

"Oh, shit!" Omid cursed as he took a couple of steps back.

"We're fucked!" Ben shouted, placing his hands to his head.

Everyone remained frozen for a moment until Kenny have everyone the order to run. Everyone spreaded out slightly, but tried to stick together, especially Clementine, who did not want to lose Chuck this time. She tried to stick with Ben last time, but now she decided to follow Lee closely. Lee, Kenny, and Christa used their pistols to take down some walkers whilst Chuck used his shovel as a melee weapon.

"Stay close," Lee instructed of Clementine.

Clementine nodded and obliged, and had the only option to watch, as she didn't have any weapons to defend herself with. Kenny didn't end up being grabbed by a walker this time. However, this time it was Ben and Katjaa that were cornered.

"Kat! No!" Kenny yelled, immediately shooting the surrounding walkers. Lee heard his cry and began to assist him.

Ben panicked and saw an opening near the side and made a run for it, not even bothering to help her. That was big mistake he just made, and not because of the walkers, but because of what Kenny would do.

Chuck immediately ran to help as Lee continued to bring down more walkers. As for Kenny, however, he began to chase after Ben.

"Come back here, you little shitbird!" he hollered at the panicked teenager. "The fuck do you think you're doin', leaving my wife to fucking DIE?"

"Kenny, I'm sorry, calm down!" Ben begged as he ran pretty much anywhere that was not around Kenny. He was surprisingly faster than Kenny and could outrun if it weren't for the walkers."

Chuck whacked a single walker down and grabbed Katjaa's hand, leading her away from the walkers and with the others.

**_("Kenny, no!")_**

_("Lee, stop him!")_

_("Ben, stop!")_

_("...")_

"Kenny, no!" Clementine called after him as Lee, Christa and Omid joined around them. "Deal with it later!"

"Ken!" Lee yelled. "Kicking his ass right now isn't going to solve your problems!"

Ben and Kenny both stopped, the former standing completely still with his head turning ferociously in all directions to make sure a walker wouldn't sneak up on him.

Kenny sighed and decided to let it go, but the moment they were away from walkers, he was going to make Ben suffer. The group stuck together as one, and much to Clementine's relief, Chuck was with them, alive and well! Together, they ran to that house like last time and locked themselves inside.

"Is everyone okay?" Lee asked everyone.

"Yeah, we're fine," Christa replied, and Omid nodded in agreement. He wasn't hurt this time, meaning that they didn't have to meet Vernon or his group this time. That would also mean that they could possibly leave in the boat this time, if the battery was intact this time around.

But only five of them could board it. The same events occurred with Lee having to dig up the dead dog and using it's collar to open the dog door. This time, however, Clementine asked permission to go inside and Lee allowed her too. Although he praised her in her dream, Clementine could tell he was worried. After they were here and safe, Kenny marched towards Ben like a rampaging bull.

"What the FUCK do you think you were doin'?!" Kenny exploded, pushing Ben back roughly. "My wife could have been fucking KILLED because of you, you stupid little shit!"

"Kenny, I panicked, okay? I ran!" Ben tried to justify his actions, but the older man was not buying it.

"Doesn't fucking matter! Your well-being don't mean shit to me, kid! My wife could've died today!" Kenny screamed. He punched Ben in the jaw, sending the teenage boy sideways. He had to be held back by Omid and Chuck.

"Calm down, son." Chuck spoke normal whilst he tried to contain his grip on Kenny who continued to struggle. He always seemed calm, regardless of the situation.

"Dude, chill!" Omid told him, but it was going to take a lot more than that to calm him down. "He's just a kid. What's hitting him going to accomplish?"

"The satisfaction I'll have of beatin' the shit outta him, that's what!" Kenny answered, struggling as the grips of both men tightened. Ben backed away fearfully, not sure just how strong Kenny was.

"Kenny!" Lee approached the mustached man. "Calm down. Now's not the time."

"Just listen to Lee!" Omid begged.

Katjaa remained silent at this event. She didn't like Kenny to be this way, but after Duck, he was beginning to lose it.

Kenny quit struggling and stood limp, accepting defeat. He broke free from Omid and Chuck and just walked away, placing an arm around Katjaa's shoulders as both of them walked into the living room for some quiet time.

"Let's leave them alone for awhile, give them some privacy," Christa suggested. "But the rest of us need to scope the place out."

_("Me and Lee can check upstairs.")_

**_("Me and Lee can check downstairs.")_**

_("I can look around on my own.")_

_("...")_

"Me and Lee can go check downstairs." Clementine suggested as she turned towards her guardian for approval.

"Me and Christa can check upstairs." Omid joined in on their conversation.

_(?) Lee, Omid and Christa agree with that plan._

Lee nodded. "Okay, let's do it."

Clementine went to the door in the main hall, the same door Lee had checked last. She opened it, and let out a loud squeak when something came flying out. But luckily, it was only a cleaning broom. Was this what had scared Lee last time?

"What's wrong, Clementine?" Lee called, looking over at her.

"A mop fell out." Clementine answered, embarrassed that she got scared by a mop, especially in this day and age. "I'm fine."

Clementine picked the mop back up and carefully placed it back into the closet, shutting the door. She walking into the living room as Lee opened up the two doors in there.

"Well, all clear in here," Lee announced. "Clear for you, Clem?"

"Yep, I'm clear." Clementine nodded slightly. "The house looks clear..." she trailed off slightly and remembered there was a boy walker in the attic that shared a resemblance with Duck.

Speaking of that, Omid came down the stairs and called out to Lee for assistance. "Lee, I think you should come up here."

"I'm coming," Lee called back. He walked over and began to slowly walk up the stairs. Clementine listened for any noise to indicate that the boy in the attic had just been killed.

Like before, Lee went outside to bury the boy in the grave, but this time, he was not heard yelling at the stranger. That was good, that meant he was not here. It was now time for Lee and Kenny to go look for a boat again, despite the fact Kenny had been drinking again, but before they did, Clementine thought of the perfect idea.

Quick as she could, she ran outside and pulled the handles as hard as she could, but the shed had been closed for quite some time. With one strong pull, the doors opened and Clementine dropped onto her back. "Lee!" she happily called out.

Lee turned around. "What is it, sweet-" He immediately stopped talking when he saw the very same boat as before. His eyes widened, and he had a happy expression on his face. "Ho-ly shit."

_("A boat.")_

_("We did it.")_

**_("Swear.")_**

_("...")_

"Swear." Clementine smiled.

The others from the house had emerged and looked very surprised yet hopeful when seeing the boat. Especially Kenny.

Like before, Kenny had dropped the bottle of wine to the ground, a smile of hope and relief crossing his broken, drained features. He placed an arm around Katjaa's shoulders and stared at the boat for a few moments.

"I can take a look at it," he finally said. "Lee, why don't you take Clem inside?"

Lee nodded and held Clementine's hand as the two walked back inside the house and the others followed, especially Ben who probably wanted to get away from Kenny out of fear he would get hurt.

Still, Clementine couldn't help but wonder how this boat situation would work out if it could only hold a capacity of five people. She decided to sit with Omid, Christa, and Lee in the living room. Ben sat on the stairs, biting his fingernails nervously.

Since it may be a while, Omid decided to make conversation between everyone. "So, anyone here like Chuck Norris?"

"Omid!" Christa smacked him on the arm playfully. Being with Omid for quite awhile, she'd heard her share of Chuck Norris jokes.

"What?" Omid chuckled, followed by a slight shrug. He had a beaming smile across his face, even despite the circumstances.

"I like him." Clementine spoke up.

"If you're talking about Chuck over there," Lee nodded towards the older man leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, "then yeah, he's a nice guy."

"Ahh, good one." Omid chuckled with his arms folded together across his chest. He searched into his pockets for a moment before retrieving A Single Action Army revolver. "Any of you guys got any more ammo? I'm only on four shots."

"Sorry, man, we don't have a lot of supplies," Lee responded unhappily, shrugging his shoulders. He turned to Clementine and smiled as if to praise her. "We had to use up some ammo by teaching this one how to shoot."

Christa raised her eyebrows, intrigued. "You've got this girl shooting guns?"

"I think it's a good idea." Omid spoke up, but he waited for Lee's response for saying anything else.

"It was actually her idea," Lee replied. "Apparently she had some kind of dream, right Clementine?"

**_("Yeah.")_**

_("No.")_

_("It's silly.")_

_("...")_

"Uh, yeah." Clementine replied as she rubbed her hand behind the back of her neck. "I had a dream where I was with new people and had everything I needed to survive. I was older than before. I knew how to use a gun and had my hair cut short. I thought it was like a warning. I decided to ask Lee to teach me how to shoot and to cut my hair."

_(?) Christa will remember that._

"Well, I think it's a good thing," Christa said. "You need to know how to survive."

"Hmm. I got to say, that's good that ya'll thinking smart." Chuck agreed from where he was standing nearby. He took a long sip out of a bottle of wine he found in the attic. He seemed to have a little drinking habit.

Chuck took the bottle from his mouth and held it out, offering it to anyone who might want a drink. Much to the surprise of everyone (especially Clementine), Christa was the one to take the bottle and gullet some of the alcoholic beverage down. Omid's huge eyes were even wider, occasionally glancing at Christa's stomach where she was still pretty early into her pregnancy.

Although Clementine knew for a fact that Christa was pregnant, she decided to play dumb. "Christa, are you okay?"

"Whoa." Ben gasped after he came into the room.

After a few seconds, Christa removed the bottle from her lips. "Yeah, I'm fine...sorry."

Omid took the bottle without snatching and whispered something incoherent to Christa. Clementine knew that it had to be something about not hurting the baby.

Before long, Kenny and Katjaa had returned into the house and everyone leaned their heads up to await for their answers about the boat. But Clementine knew what was going to happen, and the real question was how would they get the boat started without going to Crawford?

Kenny sighed. "Well, you want the good news or the bad news?" The same words as before.

"Let's get the bad news out of the way," Lee responded.

"She needs fuel, and a battery. Ain't no way we're gonna get anywhere without 'em."

"Anywhere we could find them?" Omid spoke up. "Surely there has to be some places around here, right?"

"We could check around the house," Lee suggested. "You know, maybe look around more carefully."

_("The attic?")_

**_("The basement?")_**

_("The living room?")_

_("...")_

"I think that sounds good." Clementine suggested whilst she took her memory back to remember that there was a basement in the house that no-one checked, but she did not want to go in there on her own. "I think there's a basement."

"Really?" Lee inquired, turning around. Lo and behold, there was a door by the dining room that he hadn't checked before. "Well, then." He turned his attention back to the group. "I'm gonna go check down there."

"I'll come with you, dude." Omid offered as he took out his revolver just in case they ran into anymore trouble. He and Lee approached the entrance to the basement and waited until Lee gave the word. "Well, lead the way, Lee."

Lee nodded once. "All right, then, let's head down." He picked up Carley's Glock 17, and Omid had his Single Action Army revolver, and the two of them headed into the dark basement. Clementine clasped her hands together, hoping that she wouldn't hear any fatal screaming.

"They'll be all right, Clem, you don't need to worry," Christa placed a reassuring hand on the little girl's shoulder. Clementine turned and smiled, but she could see the nervousness in the older woman's dark eyes as well.

"I'm sure they're okay." Clementine agreed.

Lee and Omid slowly went down the stairs and inside, they noticed a flash light on the table that looked like it still worked. Lee picked up it up and much to his surprise, it will worked, but when he flashed it to the left, what he saw next left him horrified. A man and wife (presumably the dead boy's parents) had hung themselves and were dangling through the room.

"Oh my God..." Lee muttered. His stomach churned, and he felt like he was going to be sick.

Omid's face paled, possibly having the same reaction.

"Jesus Christ..." Omid silently gasped and shook his head. "How could they do this?"

"They had a fuckin' kid upstairs, too," Lee was too shocked to say a lot. He and Omid held a short moment of silence for the man and woman, who were now undead and groaning weakly. After that was over, Lee spoke up again, feeling slightly depressed for this poor family. "We should look around."

"I think there's some candles over there." Omid pointed out and grabbed a match that he found on the side. He lit up the candles that now brightened up the entire basement. "Much better."

Much better, albeit there were still two hung bodies, and the smell was unbearable. Omid looked around and was the one to discover a can of fuel in one of the corners. He called for Lee's attention.

"I found cans of gas!" Omid enthusiastically called out, his hopes raising.

Lee turned around and looked relieved. "Great. Now we just need to find a battery." His eyes scanned around, and soon he saw a work table with a lot of tools (perhaps the father built things down here), and saw several batteries, three of them being for a boat. "Perfect," he praised, walking over and picking them up. "Always room for extras."

He turned to Omid. "I think that's everything. You ready to head back up?"

"Yeah, let's get out of here." Omid agreed, anxious to leave this basement that gave him the chills.

The two headed back upstairs where the others were waiting for them in the living room. Kenny's eyebrows lifted up when seeing the engine and gas.

"Well, I'll be damned," he muttered, approaching Lee and Omid. "Guess I can fix this up now."

For a moment, Lee contemplated telling Kenny about what they had seen in the basement, but eventually decided that it might not be such a good idea, especially after Duck had just died.

Clementine felt relieved to see things were going well, but on the downside, what if the same problem occurred last time? Only five of them could board it. All together including herself was Clementine, Lee, Kenny, Katjaa, Omid, Christa, Chuck, and Ben. That made eight.

The little girl watched as Kenny walked back outside with his needed tools, followed by Katjaa. Ben sat beside her on the sofa, his head in his hands. No doubt he was thinking about what he had done.

Clementine did feel bad for Ben, but she knew that he was not perfect. She understood that he was scared, but he should have tried to save himself and Katjaa instead of himself. And to make matters worse, what if he slipped out with the truth again regarding Duck?

Lee approached the couch and knelt in front of Clementine. "Hey sweet pea. You okay?"

"I'm okay." Clementine nodded in response, but she did appreciate Lee's concern for her. If things went well, then he would take care of her for the rest of their lives. "Lee, are we really going to leave on a boat?"

"Well, we'll see what Kenny can do, and if he can get the boat fixed, then we'll leave here as soon as possible," Lee replied. "Don't worry, Clem, we'll be at a safe place before you know it. Even if it means leaving Georgia."

_("Is this a good idea?")_

**_("Where will we go?")_**

_("I'm not sure.")_

_("...")_

"But where will we go?" Clementine inquired. Although back in her dream, she remembered having a conversation in Lee where he promised if they found somewhere safe, they could build a school. She wished that dream was true.

Lee frowned and averted his gaze briefly. "We're still unsure of that. But we'll figure it all out soon."

"Okay." Clementine nodded, even despite the fact she had doubts about this idea. Nevertheless, she trusted Lee with her life and knew he would protect her no matter what.

"I'll tell you what, Clem. I told you that I used to be a teacher, remember? How about when we find ourselves a safe place, we can set up a little classroom, just you and me?" Lee suggested, making the same offer as before.

"That sounds great." Clementine agreed, nodding her head excitedly in agreement. She had another idea whilst they were at it and decided to share it. "Lee, if we ever did find somewhere safe, do you think we could try and build life like it once was?"

Lee seemed to think about it for a moment. "Well, I can't lie to you, Clementine. There's no guarantee that we'll be able to create such an accomplishment from scratch, but it would never hurt to try. What do you think?"

_("We can do it.")_

_("We can't do it.")_

**_("We won't know until we've tried.")_**

_("...")_

"I think we won't know until we try." Clementine replied with her honest answer.

_(?) Lee will remember that._

"Exactly," Lee nodded in agreement. The two of them heard footsteps approaching, and in walked Kenny and Katjaa.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and shifted their attention towards Kenny. They were eager to hear his news and hoped it would not be bad.

Clementine had a feeling that she knew what was coming, but like the rest of the group, she was all ears.

* * *

**And that brings us to the end of this chapter. Another change of fate, Chuck lives. With the boat found in their shed, the group will finally get to safety. That's if a couple of obstacles don't block their way of course.**


	8. Chapter 8: tough decisions

**A place to call home**

**Chapter 8: tough decisions  
**

**Well, well, here's chapter 8, everyone, and I'm super excited because The Walking Dead TV show is starting in around half-hour my time and I'm super excited to watch it. Now some of you may not like the show and only the game, or vice versa, but that's all right. Me, personally, I like both. As I go to watch the show, enjoy the next chapter, folks.**

* * *

Kenny sighed. "Well, y'all, I have some more bad news. There's a capacity problem. There's eight of us here, and the boat'll only fit five of us. So...three of us will have to stay behind."

Every group member turned towards one another, nervous expressions across their faces, especially Ben, who has the feeling that Kenny was not going to let him on regardless of what happened next.

Chuck was the first to speak up, still holding a bottle of wine in his hand. "Well, if it means getting ya'll to safety, you can count me out. I'm an old man and ain't got much left. Don't you all worry about me though."

Now only seven remained.

Ben squeezed his eyes shut and pulled at his dark blonde hair. Clementine could see that he was trying his hardest not to panic, but it wasn't easy for the teenager. Kenny looked his way and raised an eyebrow.

"You got somethin' to say, shitbird?" he asked suspiciously.

Ben was about to say something, but instead, he folded his arms together and remained silent. "No..." but despite his fear, he was getting tired of Kenny pushing him around.

Clementine remained silent a this point. She hoped Lee or herself would not be one of the people who had to stay behind. "Are you sure it's only five? I'm only little and don't weigh that much."

Kenny seemed to think about it. "That's what the boat will fit, but I ain't sure about the weight."

"Is that a maybe?" Clementine asked, her hopes gaining somewhat.

"I reckon," said Kenny.

"You need help?" Lee offered.

"I'm fine, Lee. But we need to discuss this little situation," Kenny replied, glancing at Clementine.

Clementine returned a look towards Kenny. What did he mean by that?

Lee and Kenny walked away from the group to talk about whatever Kenny had in mind. Clementine decided not to eavesdrop as that would likely do no good. She looked over at Ben, who still looked fearful and panicked.

"Well, this sucks." Omid spoke up and leaned back into his chair with his arms folded together. He had high hopes everything would be fine if they joined their group.

_("We were so close.")_

_**("I wish we had a bigger boat.")**_

_("What are we going to do?")_

_("...")_

"I wish there was a bigger boat." Clementine admitted as she took a seat next to Christa and Omid on the same couch.

Christa and Omid looked down solemnly, wishing the same thing. Ben stood up and decided to sit in one of the bedrooms upstairs alone to pass the time.

"I wonder what's wrong with him," said Christa.

"Kid's probably worried about the boat." Omid assumed. He noticed Christa looking at him somewhat confused. "He's probably worried because of what happened with Kenny earlier."

"That was stupid, what he did," Christa pointed out. "But I think Kenny may have overreacted, he's lucky that Chuck was there."

"Kid's just scared." Omid defended him.

Lee and Kenny returned after having their little conversation. Now it was time to hear what they had to say, but regardless, there was going to be one too many.

"We can take Clementine because she won't take up too much weight," Kenny announced. "But we still need to get rid of someone else..." His brown eyes scanned around for Ben, only to find him nowhere in sight.

"So, Chuck isn't coming, Clementine won't count as a capacity." Omid began to state the details. He turned towards Clementine whilst doing so. "No offence or anything."

"It's okay." Clementine assured with a smile.

"So, that makes me, Christa, Lee, Clementine, Kenny, Katjaa and Ben." Omid continued, realizing that they still had a problem and that someone had to stay, but who? "We still got one too many."

Now this was the decision they had to make. Someone was going to stay behind, but who? Lee and Clementine were like father and daughter, Kenny and Katjaa were married, Omid and Christa were a couple, and Ben was alone.

"Should we put it to a vote?" Lee suggested.

"I say we do." Clementine agreed with her guardian's suggestions. She looked towards everyone present and regardless of who it was, she loved every here like her own family, but Ben was a danger to the group like he said.

_("I abstain.")_

_("We leave Omid.")_

_**("We leave Ben.")**_

_("...")_

She closed her eyes, not wanting to do what she did, but was left with no option. "I say we leave Ben."

Since Chuck decided to count himself out, he had no say in the matter and decided to keep out of it.

"Well, I think leaving Ben is the best choice, too." Omid agreed, but Clementine could tell by his face that he did not want to do it.

As much as Clementine wanted to go by her old saying, "We don't leave friends behind," she knew that she had made the right choice. Ben probably wasn't going to survive for much longer, either way, in his state.

"Both of you are makin' the right choice," Kenny praised. "A little surprising comin' from Clementine, but I like it."

"Kenny, do we really-" Katjaa began.

"Yes," Kenny cut her off firmly.

Lee and Christa were the only ones not to vote yet. Those two were the ones left to vote. Kenny's vote was more than obvious and Katjaa decided to abstain.

Lee, who usually put the lives of the group first, closed his eyes and sighed. "I think I'll abstain. Christa?"

Christa seemed to be deep in thought for a few moments before giving out her decision. "I know he means well, but I think we should leave Ben. After he put Katjaa in danger, I don't want to risk any more trouble with him."

Then it was settled. Ben was going to be the one who had to stay behind. But now all they had to do was tell the teenager. Speaking of which, Ben had just came back downstairs and approached the rest of the group with a curious eyebrow raised. "Hey, what's going on?"

The rest of the group looked among one another. Who was going to tell Ben their plan of leaving him behind?

"Ben..." Lee began, already looking regretful. "We had a discussion about the boat, and I'm so sorry, but-"

"Your ass is gettin' left behind," Kenny snarled, crossing his arms. "You really thought that you were coming with us, after putting my WIFE in danger? Fuck no! And who knows, Lilly could've been right about you bein' the one to trade supplies. I can believe that, y'know. Who the fuck knows if YOU CAUSED MY SON'S DEATH?"

"ALL RIGHT, IT WAS ME!" Ben finally confessed the truth and waved his hands in the air. "Yeah, I did. They threatened to kill us all if I didn't do what they said. I thought I could keep them off our back until you could get the RV working! I'm sorry."

Everyone was left shocked (except for Clementine, that is). It was true that Ben was the one who was trading the supplies with everyone. Now Kenny was beyond angry.

"Dude, just-" Omid tried to get involved but Christa placed her hand upon his shoulder, her eyes telling him not to get involved.

Kenny's eyes widened, and Clementine had never seen someone so furious in her short life (other than when Ben admitted his mistakes before). He immediately tackled Ben to the ground and began slamming his head on the hard floor repeatedly.

"YOU FUCKING WORTHLESS PILE OF DOG SHIT!" Kenny hollered. "YOU MOTHERFUCKING SON OF A BITCH! YOU GOT MY BOY KILLED, AND NEARLY KILLED MY WIFE! I OUGHTA KILL YOU RIGHT HERE AND NOW!"

Lee and Omid jumped up and restrained Kenny's arms, pulling him away from Ben but he continued struggling nevertheless.

"Kenny, man, he didn't mean to kill him!" Omid told him, even though he and Christa were not present when his son had died.

"DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER!" Kenny exploded, elbowing Omid in the face. Whether that was accidental or intentional, Clementine didn't know. "THIS FUCKFACE CAN JUST DROP DEAD IN A FUCKIN' GUTTER FOR ALL I CARE!"

That was the last straw for Ben. Even since they first met, Kenny had did nothing but push Ben around, always claiming he was useless. He tried to put up with it, but now he lost his breaking point. He may have been responsible for Duck's death, but that was no excuse for Kenny to become a bad person, two wrongs did not make a right. He stood up and wiped the blood off his nose and stood up against Kenny who was still being held by Lee. Omid went to go and sit down.

"FUCK YOU, KENNY!" Ben snapped with his face full of anger.

Kenny's face went from a look of fury to a look of pure shock. It was safe to say that the rest of the group, including Clementine (who hadn't seen it before), were astonished too.

"I accidently killed Duck, and I'm sorry, I really am! But don't act like you're the only one who's lost people! I remember what Lilly told me, she told me you killed Larry in that meat locker when he was still alive! He was a dick, yeah, but you had no right!" Ben raised his voice when Kenny was about to speak. "NO! At least you have family here with you, I have no-one! You got to see your son die and got to say goodbye to him. I lost my best friend and my teacher! And I never even got to know what happened to my family. My parents, my little sister, they could be alive, dead, walkers, or worse and I don't know! It's bad enough I'm getting left behind, but you have don't have to push me around like that, Kenny! SO GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!"

Kenny's jaw dropped, obviously not expecting something, anything, like this to pour from the teenager's mouth.

"...Ben...I'm-" Kenny began, but something outside caused him to stop.

* * *

**That brings us to the end of this chapter, folks. The boat is ready to go and Ben has finally confessed to his deal with the bandits, but it looks like the group is going to have some more trouble with some old friends. Sorry to leave you with a cliffhanger, but the next chapter will be here soon.**


	9. Chapter 9: you can't save them all

**A place to call home**

**Chapter 9: you can't save them all  
**

**Hey, everyone, for those who watched the show, I think it's safe to say season 5 got off to a great start. Seriously, one of the best intro episodes yet and I can't wait for more. But going over from the show to the game, here's chapter 9. Enjoy.**

* * *

The sounds of the walkers grunting and snarling could be heard through the outside of the house. They banged on the outside of the house, possibly attracted to the yells of Kenny and Ben. But there could be a slight chance they would not be able to get inside.

"Oh, no." Clementine gasped as she took a couple of steps back and stood closely to Lee.

"Fuck." Omid swore, taking his revolver out when he knew they were in for a fight. Who knows how many of the walkers were outside?

"Looks like we've got company." Chuck stated the obvious and retrieved his shovel.

"We don't have a lot of ammo," Lee pointed out as he took out his Glock 17. "We have to make these shots count. Clem, stay close."

"Right," Kenny agreed.

Kenny asked everyone how much ammunition they had left and everyone pulled out a handgun except for Clementine and Katjaa. Even Chuck had a revolver. Kenny, Lee, Christa, Omid, Ben and Chuck all counted their ammunition in turns.

"3"

"5"

"3"

"4"

"2"

"1"

Clementine and Katjaa stood back, as everyone got to shooting. Walkers fell dead in a near instant, tackling some others down, but they got back up. All you could hear was the loud gunshots and the moaning of walkers. Clementine had nearly forgotten how the gunshots used to make her ears ring.

Chuck raised his shovel and whacked a single walker down, but he eventually got cornered and struggled to fight them off. Everyone retreated upstairs, leaving Chuck alone for a moment. He managed to push through them but he remained at the top of the stairs and stood guard there. "You all go on ahead!"

The rest of the group obliged, Lee holding Clementine's hand, and stood at the top of the stairs. Too bad that didn't last long because some of them began climbing the stairs, horrifying the group.

"Fuck! In the attic!" Kenny ordered.

Chuck bravely held them off for as long as he could, but in the end, they overwhelmed him and bit into different parts of his body. With his last act of strength, he took out his gun and shot himself in the head to prevent reanimation.

The rest of the group climbed into the attic, closing it behind them. They were trapped, but were unsure if the walkers knew where they were.

Kenny closed the attic hatch and placed his hands on his knees, panting. "Holy shit..."

"Is everyone okay?" Lee called out.

_("No.")_

**_("I'm okay.")_**

_("Chuck...")_

_("...")_

"I'm okay." Clementine assured as she took a seat next to Katjaa on the couch.

"I'm good." Omid replied, panting a couple of times to catch his break back.

"Great. Now how the fuck are we gettin' out of here?" Kenny threw his arms up in frustration.

"I guess we could hang around and wait until they leave." Omid suggested as he eyed a statue head on the table that had him interested. "This guy looks like he knows what to do. He's got a resourceful air about him. Dixon Kent the third, industrial-

"Omid!" Christa cut him off, giving him a death glare.

"Christa, I'm just trying to lighten the tone!" Omid explained in a somewhat snapping tone, but he would never be harsh with his girlfriend.

"Look, we might need to find a way out of here," Christa explained. "Hanging around for too long might not be a good idea."

"Wasn't this house connected to another house?" Ben stated as he proceeded towards the end of the attic and pressed his ear up against the wood.

"I think so." Clementine agreed as Lee took a seat beside her. But at the moment, she was feeling doubtful. They were so close to victory and now the walkers prevented them from escaping.

"Any way we can break down this wall?" Kenny wanted to know. He picked up the statue head and threw it and hit the wall once. Much to everyone's surprise, a resounding crack could be heard.

"You ruined that dude's face." Omid spoke up.

To make certain, Kenny picked up a jacket rack and began to whack it against the wall.

Lee got up from the couch and inspected the wall. There was already a small hole leading into another bedroom, meaning that there was a possible chance of escape. "This wall ain't shit."

Kenny told everyone to rest for a while whilst he would break through the wall until he was out of energy. Everyone gathered around the couches and sat down together.

"I can't believe Chuck's gone." that was the first thing Omid had said after they sat in silence. He sighed and looked down at his feet. He liked Chuck was a friend and could not believe he was gone now.

"He was a good man," Lee added.

Clementine was probably the one who felt the most upset. She hadn't been able to prevent his death like she hoped, and now he was gone again, just like in her dream. Still, she looked at Katjaa and was glad to still have her here.

It took a couple of minutes until Kenny arrived and switched places with Omid. He found another bottle of wine in the box and decided now was a better time than any to have a drink. Surprisingly, Katjaa had a sip to and so did Christa, but Lee decided to not have one. And even more surprisingly, Kenny offered Ben a drink.

Ben was about to accept it, but instead, he declined. "No, thanks. I'm good."

Omid took the final blow to the wall, tossing the jacket rack to the side and panting from exhaustion. This caught the attention of the group, and Kenny stood up after taking a long drink.

"We got it?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're through." Omid answered in between breaths.

The group all squeezed together through the house that led into a bedroom. But what they saw next left them horrified. Two corpses lying on a bed and holding hands caught everyone's attention. It looked like they had shot themselves after being unable to take it anymore.

Clementine gasped and held her hand to her mouth.

"My God..." Katjaa covered her mouth with her hands. Kenny placed an arm around her shoulders and stared at the corpses with a profound sadness.

"How could they do this?" Lee muttered more to himself than to anyone else.

Omid and Christa looked at one another, and held on to each other as they looked on.

_("Oh, no.")_

_("How could they?")_

**_("It's not right.")_**

_("...")_

"It's not right." Clementine admitted, closing her eyes as she had a moment of silence in respect for them.

_(?) They will remember that._

"I think I'm going to be sick." Ben replied, holding a hand to his mouth.

Omid turned towards everyone here and could not help but notice all eyes were glued to the corpses. He let go of Christa's hand and proceeded over towards a closet that was blocking the exit out of the room. "Anyone want to help me move this?"

"I'll help," Lee offered, walking over to assist Omid.

Together, they moved the closet out the way and revealed the exit. Slowly, everyone exited the bedroom-Kenny taking the couple's gun-and preceded towards downstairs where some of the windows were boarded up, but not all of them. After searching the place, everyone gathered around in the living room and sat together where walkers would not be able to find them. This time, they kept silent.

Omid snuck over to the window and peaked out the window slightly to see the house next door. The walkers were slowly moving outside, but not all of them. "Looks like they're leaving."

"Good, we may be in the clear," Kenny noted. He looked out the windows and saw that there were no walkers in the backyard. "I'll head out first and get the boat ready. Everyone else follow my lead carefully, and try not to attract any unnecessary attention."

"You got it," Lee replied with a slow nod.

Kenny opened the window and walked towards the shed, and waved his hand to beckon everyone else out.

Everyone followed and stuck close together, keeping their ways surveyed around the area for any walkers that may still be lurking around the area, but they were confident that they had left by now.

Kenny and Lee pulled the boat from the shed by the bottom, both grunting slightly.

"I think we can get the boat to the harbor quickly if we all push it together," Lee announced. "Is everybody ready?"

Ben didn't really know if he had any say in this, so he just placed his hands in his pockets and looked away awkwardly.

"Come on and help, kid." Omid said as he patted his back a couple of times. He and Christa decided to help, but Omid had a little difficulty since he was not as tall as everyone else.

Ben shrugged and helped carry the boat out of the yard and into the streets of Savannah.

_("Can I help?")_

_("What should I do?")_

**_("Can I have a gun?")_**

_("...")_

Clementine, who was not obviously strong enough to carry the boat, approached Lee and requested a weapon. "Lee, can I have your gun just in case?"

"Sure, Clem, you can hold onto it, but be careful," Lee replied, getting out his firearm from his back pocket. He smiled lightly at her as she took it from him. Clementine returned the smile and looked around the streets.

Using team work, the group slowly made their way down to the harbor and not a walker in sight. So far so good. Carrying a boat was not easy one bit, but if this was their ticket to freedom, then they had to put in the work with all of their strength.

"Ughhh..." Kenny grunted, taking a quick rest break. "How's everyone doin'? Tired yet?"

"Not really," Lee couldn't help but smirk.

Other than the loss of Chuck, Clementine felt that things were finally looking up. The group would be going someplace safe on a boat, and she wouldn't have to worry about Lee, or anyone, dying.

* * *

Finally they made it to the harbor and were able to get the boat into the water. Kenny hopped into the boat and attempted to get the engine started, but instead, the engine only rattled.

"What the...are you shitting me?" Kenny demanded of nobody in particular, punching the steering wheel in frustration.

"Kenny, please, calm down," Katjaa pleaded.

Kenny sighed and took off his hat, running his hands through his hair. "Well, what now?"

"Just keep trying." Omid suggested, he and the others looking off into the ocean and were not keeping an eye out.

As Kenny attempted to start the engines, the group were completely unaware of the familiar walkers appear from the streets and buildings. An entire horde slowly approached the group.

Christa turned around, hearing the noise, and her eyes widened. "Shit! We have company."

Kenny looked up hurriedly, but before he could give a warning, a walker had sneaked up and grabbed Katjaa by the shoulders, biting into her neck as she screamed out. The mustached man immediately scrambled out of the boat.

"Stay back, Clem," Lee prodded, turning towards the oncoming horde.

Kenny cried out as his wife was devoured by walkers, but he was not willing to let them take her like that. He pulled out his pistol and charged through them, firing his last remaining rounds. Although it was hard to tell, they could have sworn they heard him yell "KATJAA!"

Clementine looked back and forth between her people and the walkers. She fired a few rounds towards the walkers, but her gun clicked in a matter of seconds. She took a couple of steps back and screamed when a walker appeared and stood a mere foot away. She thought she was done for, but before the walker could attacked, Ben appeared out of nowhere with his gun pressed up against the walker and with a single shot, he fired and killed the walker. He saved her life.

"Ben!" she cried out in a grateful tone.

"Clem, are you-AHH!" Ben screamed when he felt a walker sneak up on him from behind. He quickly turned around and tried to shoot it, but he was too late and the walker had bit into his neck. "AHHHHHH!"

"NO!" Clementine screamed, unable to do anything as the walker devoured into him.

With his last act of strength, he stumbled back and slipped off the pier and fell into the water, taking the walker with him. Clementine could not believe it. She just lost Kenny, Katjaa and Ben in a matter of seconds. She turned towards Lee who was using a cleaver to fight them back.

Omid and Christa were alone together, using their weapons to fight back the walkers.

Clementine's golden eyes darted around for Lee, who had his Glock 17 in one hand and a meat cleaver that he'd somehow come across in the other. She found him about a yard away, and he was taking down any walker who dared to come across him or his remaining group.

The little girl ran over to him, but she was completely defenseless. She had no choice but to watch as he continued to slam walkers down with one shot or slice.

"OMID!"

Whipping around at Christa's frantic cry, Clementine saw a huge bite mark on Omid's arm, and Omid's already huge eyes widening in fear. But there was nothing that Christa could do, as she'd just fired her last bullet into the walker that had bitten Omid. Omid noticed more walkers coming towards him, but he and Christa backed away. Unfortunately, they didn't see the walkers coming up behind them, they were surrounded. The last thing Clementine saw was the fearful look in their eyes before they disappeared completely into a swarm of hungry walkers.

"AHHHHH!"

Clementine turned around again. No. This wasn't happening again.

Two walkers had grabbed Lee and forced him to the ground, eating him alive. Lee screamed in agony as one of them reached into his stomach and pulled out his intestines, stuffing them into his mouth. Clementine's mouth dropped open in fear and shock; there was nothing she could do as she was now defenseless.

"CLEMENTINE!" Lee bellowed. "MY GUN - IT'S NEAR RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE! YOU HAVE TO...YOU HAVE TO SHOOT ME! I'M SORRY, SWEET PEA!"

With tears flowing uncontrollably down her cheeks, Clementine picked up the gun and aimed it at Lee.

**_(Shoot Lee)_**

_(Don't shoot Lee)_

She pulled the trigger and fired, using up her last bullet. Now she was defenseless, and she had nobody. She was fully aware of the world going to hell around her, and there was nothing she could do. No longer caring, she placed her hands over her ears and began to scream...

* * *

And shot up in bed. Clementine looked around, tears still blurred in her eyes. Where was she? The door opened, and in ran Kenny, alive and well, but now he had that beard again. Luke and Carlos stood in the doorway, also having heard the little girl's screams.

**_("LEE!")_**

_("NO!")_

_("HELP!")_

_("...")_

"LEE!" Clementine screamed, holding her hands to her ears and her eyes shut closed with tears dropping out of her eyes. She was now crying heavily and this was the most she had cried since the events of Savannah. She still thought she was there, watching as her friends around her died, but it was all a dream.

Clem! Clementine!" Kenny cried out, sitting on the bed and placing his hands on the little girl's shoulders.

Clementine looked up at him with sad and fearful eyes. Right now, you couldn't tell that she'd hurt anything or anyone. Kenny hugged her close, letting her cry.

"It's all right, darlin', it's okay," he soothed, rubbing circles into her back.

"Is she okay?" Luke asked, a worried tone in his voice as he and Carlos looked on from the doorway. AJ's own cries could be heard from Rebecca and Alvin's room, as Clem's screaming had possibly woken him up.

"She's fine, I'll handle this," Kenny threw over his shoulder as he continued to rub Clementine's back gently. "Just a nightmare."

"Kenny...You're...You're okay." Clementine cried into the older man's chest and moved her arms around him. She was afraid and needed someone who she knew for comfort, and that someone was Kenny.

"It's okay, everyone." Carlos informed the rest of the group who were all standing in the hallway after hearing Clementine's screams. "She's okay, it was just a nightmare. Everyone should get back to bed." he placed his hands upon his daughter's shoulders and escorted her back to their room. "Let's go back to bed, sweetie."

Everyone else dispersed back into their rooms, Luke giving Clementine a final sympathetic look before closing the door quietly, leaving her with Kenny.

Clementine felt embarrassed with so many people seeing her cry. She didn't want to appear weak to them, especially not now.

"I'm not goin' anywhere, darlin'," Kenny whispered into Clementine's ear. "Shhhh, it's all right. You still have me. Do you want to talk about your dream?"

**_("Yes.")_**

_("No.")_

_("...")_

"It...It was back in the past." Clementine answered in a somewhat muffled voice. "I was little again...I knew everything that happened...And tried to save everyone...But...They all still died...Chuck...Christa...Omid...Ben...Katjaa...Lee..."

That was all Clementine could say before the image of Lee's intestines being pulled out of his body came to mind, and she just cried again. God, she hated crying.

_(?) Kenny will remember that._

Kenny sighed, but didn't say anything as he continued to hug her. Clementine was just a little girl, only eleven years old. She didn't deserve to go through all this shit. The bearded man held her close, the only thing left that connected to his past.

"Nothing's gonna happen to me, Clementine, I'll always keep you safe," Kenny told the child.

Clementine knew that there was no guarantee in that statement, but she sniffled and looked up at Kenny briefly before laying her head on his chest, gripping his shirt tightly.

Clementine trusted Kenny with her life and now that he was back, she was certain he would take care of her the best he could. She looked up to Kenny as a father-figure and since they were reunited, their relationship was stronger than ever. Kenny was the only person she had left from her old group and she did not want to lose him to. "Thank you, Kenny. I'm glad I have you back again."

"And I couldn't be happier to see you," Kenny responded with a smile, now that Clementine had stopped crying. "Do you want to go back to sleep, or sit up for a while? I'll stay with you."

_(Stay up)_

**_(Go to sleep)_**

"I'm okay, Kenny. I think I can go back to sleep, thank you." Clementine assured as she lied back down into her bed and placed her blanket over herself.

"Alright then, darlin'," Kenny nodded, but he still wasn't going anywhere until Clementine fell asleep. He really didn't want her to wake up after another nightmare.

Clementine fell asleep in a bit less than a minute, not realizing how exhausted she truly was.

* * *

**That brings us to the end of this chapter, folks. It turns out it was all a dream the entire time and now we are back into the reality with the group in the ski lodge. Keep tuned for the next chapter, folks.**


	10. Chapter 10: back to reality

**A place to call home**

**Chapter 10: back to reality  
**

**Well based on the reviews for my last chapter, I think it's safe to say most of you are shocked to see it was all a dream the entire time. I bet we had you all going. Trust me, it was a lot harder to write it than to the read it. Speaking of which, here's the question for the day: which Walking Dead game did you like better? Season 1, season 2, or both? Me, personally, loved both of them. Telltale did a great job and added things that the show could have used. ****In the meantime, here's chapter 10.**

* * *

When Clementine woke up in the morning, the first thing she noticed is that Kenny was gone. She looked around for a moment before climbing out of bed and heading downstairs. Only a few members of the group were awake right now (including Kenny).

"Morning." Clementine greeted whilst making her way down the stairs.

"Morning, Clementine!" everyone called, seeming to forget about the incident last night.

She decided to go see Kenny, who was leaning against one of the decorated railings with his arms crossed. He smiled warmly as she approached him.

"Hey Clem, you sleep okay?" he wanted to know.

"I slept okay, I guess." Clementine answered whilst rubbing her hand up her arm.

Kenny nodded, noting her of his approval. "Good. I'm going outside for a few minutes if you need me for anything, alright? I'll be just on the porch."

Clementine nodded, although she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. But this was a mainly clear area, so there was nothing to worry about.

For now, Clementine decided to go and sit with Luke, Carlos and Sarah who were all sitting together around the dining table, eat bowels of cereal that they found at the store. "Hey guys."

"Good morning, Clementine." Carlos greeted in a normal voice.

"Hi, Clem!" Sarah chirped as her younger friend sat down beside her.

"How are you feeling?" Luke wanted to know as he ate a spoonful of cereal.

_("Not great.")_

**_("I'm okay.")_**

_("I'm not sure.")_

_("...")_

"I'm doing okay, I guess." Clementine answered whilst she grabbed herself the cereal box, the milk and an empty bowl. "I'm sorry for waking you all up last night." she apologized whilst pouring cereal into her bowl.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Luke reassured her with a smile. "We can't control our dreams. I was havin' a hard time sleeping anyway."

"Why's that?" Clementine inquired before taking a bite out of her breakfast. She never thought Luke would be one to have trouble sleeping, especially on this comfortable ski lodge.

"I don't really know, just...I guess I was just overthinking."

Clementine looked a little confused, but decided not to question it if some of the thoughts were personal. Clementine ate her breakfast in silence with her friends. It was nice to have a proper breakfast for once. It felt like things were normal again.

Sarah looked up from her bowl of cereal and turned out the window, and gasped excitedly when she saw something. "Dad, look! It's snowing!" she exclaimed cheerfully.

"It looks beautiful, Sarah." Carlos replied as he placed his spoon down after he was done.

**_("It is Christmas time.")_**

_("I like snow.")_

_("It's not that great.")_

_("...")_

"I know we're in December, so here's to a Merry Christmas." Clementine announced with a cup of water raised in the air.

"Merry Christmas!" Luke announced, raising his own cup. Carlos and Sarah raised their cups as well, and the four of them clinked cups.

_(?) They will remember that._

"It really feels like it!" Sarah cried. "The tree is soooo pretty!"

"You and Sarita did a great job decorating the place." Clementine praised, but she too felt happy again to be celebrating a holiday.

"Yes, good job, Sarah." Carlos agreed and smiled towards his daughter.

Sarah opened her mouth to reply when the front door practically slammed shut. Kenny walked up and sat on the other side of Clementine, nodding towards Luke, Carlos, and Sarah.

"Gonna freeze my ass off if I stay any longer," he nearly muttered.

"Are you okay?" Carlos inquired in a somewhat friendly tone.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Kenny replied with a wave of his hand. "I'm just hopin' we won't have to work on that wind turbine again anytime soon."

"As long as we keep our eye on it, we'll be okay." Carlos assured before he got up from the table to go and use the bathroom. "Stay with the others, sweetie."

Sarah nodded and cleared her area of the table.

"So...anything we need to do today?" Luke inquired. "We're still stayin' a few weeks, right?"

_("We could go on a supply run.")_

_("We could just stay.")_

**_("We could build a fence.")_**

_("...")_

Clementine had an idea on her mind that she got from visiting the St. John's farm. "Walter, I take it you don't have a generator and barb wire do you?"

"I'm sorry, Clementine, but we don't," Walter shrugged, looking a bit apologetic. "What makes you say that?"

"Me and Kenny knew these people...They were bad..." Clementine closed her eyes and thought back to Mark being legless and Larry having his head crushed in. "But they were smart, they used wire and a generator to make an electric fence and keep their home safe."

_(?) Kenny remembers that._

Kenny knew exactly what Clem was talking about, and had a nearly murderous look on his face. "Smart, but fucked up in the head," he growled.

* * *

_"I said don't move, asshole!" Andy St. John ordered, holding his rifle to the back of Duck's head, threatening to shoot him unless Kenny remained where he was._

_"Don't you fucking hurt him!" Kenny warned, anger boiling up inside of him. The second his son was safe, he was going to make Andy pay for what he did. "Let him go, God dammit!"_

_At that moment, Lee appeared out of the house with Katjaa following closely. The two watched in shock as Andy still kept his rifle pressed up against Duck, who was beginning to whimper in fear. Andy clearly had no quarrels with hurting a child._

_"That ain't gonna happen!" Andy refused, taking a couple of more steps towards the man from Florida._

_"Andy, don't!" Lee suggested._

_"SHUT UP!" Andy responded immediately, aiming his rifle towards Lee that caused him to raise his hands in the air._

_Taking this opportunity when Andy was close enough and no longer paying attention to him, Kenny quickly lunged forward in an attempt to save his son. He almost got to him, but he was not fast enough and Andy had pulled the trigger, shooting Kenny in the lower part of his stomach to the right. Katjaa screamed and quickly ran towards her injured husband to help him._

_"DAAAD!" Duck cried out._

_Seeing his injured best friend and the scared child at gunpoint, Lee slowly began to approach Andy, ignoring the risk of being shot, but he kept his hands raised in the air nevertheless. "Andy!"_

_"Who the fuck do you people think you are? Look what you've done!" Andy told them, but what he said clearly made no sense. How was this their fault? Andy and his family were the ones who kidnapped people and ate them._

_"Calm down." Lee replied._

_"Calm down?" Andy repeated, obviously not taking Lee's suggestion into consideration. "What for, huh? All we wanted was some goddamn gasoline!"_

_Before he could respond further, a gunshot echoed through the air and Andy was shot directly in his ear by Carley that caused him to let go of Duck who quickly ran away. Lee quickly took his chance to attack whilst Andy was stunned and grabbed onto his rifle, causing it to fire in the process. Both men wrestled over the gun for a short while until Lee was able to knock the gun against Andy's mouth that caused him to stumble back, taking Lee down with him. Both of them slid down the mud hill, breaking the wooden fence in the process._

_As Lee tried to recover, Andy got up and kicked Lee in the face, sending him back down for a second time. Preparing to finish him, Andy turned on the generator to the electric fence and grabbed Lee by his hair, dragging him towards the fence. "Get up. Get the fuck up!"_

_Lee attempted to punch him a couple of times, but it did no good and he was placed by the fence on his knees. Andy held both of Lee's arms behind his back using one arm whilst he used his other hand to push his face towards the electric fence. Lee struggled and desperately attempted to get free, his face was only a couple of inches away from being shocked. Who knows how much volts that thing contained?"_

_When all hope seemed lost at this point, Lee looked towards the barn nearby where Lilly and Clementine emerged outside, Lilly holding Danny St. John's rifle. "Lilly!" Lee cried out to help before he met his end._

_Lilly did not hesitate to aim and fired a single round towards Andy, sitting him in the shoulder that caused him to release Lee and collapse onto his back. Now that he was down, Lee got down on his knees, pinning Andy down and began to unleash his fury against him for everything he had done. It was because of them that Mark died and reanimated into a walker, it was because of them Larry died despite the fact he was a jerk to Lee, and it was because of them Kenny was shot. Lee continued to repeat the same tactic over and over again: punching him once with his left hand, and then his right hand._

_As the rain poured down and the storm echoed throughout the night, the remaining members of the motor inn group all gathered around near the exit to the farm, watching as Lee continued to furiously beat Andy into submission. Lee was beginning to get exhausted and was getting carried away, but he did not stop yet. He yelled out his anger and punch Andy a few more times._

_Carley approached Lee to stop him from beating Andy down further. It was over now, regardless of if they lived or died. "Lee, that's enough." it actually caused to stop and stand back up, taking a few breaths. "He's had enough."_

_The two walked away together back towards their group, but Lee stopped halfway when Andy called out to him. Despite the fact he was shot twice and had been beaten down hard that left his face swollen and his teeth missing, he was not done yet. "Is that all ya got, Lee?...You ain't shit!"_

_"It's over!" Lee shouted._

_"Fuck you." Andy scoffed whilst he struggled to get back to his feet. "As soon as Dan and Mama get out here you're all fucked!"_

_"They're both dead." Lee informed him, but that was not the full truth. Danny was trapped in the barn in a bear trap and Brenda would more than likely turn into a walker now._

_"...What did you do? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!" Andy demanded to know, but all Lee did was turn around and walk away. Andy pointed his finger towards him and demanded him to come back. "Don't you DARE walk away from me, Lee!" he fell to his knees. "Get back here and finish this, Lee!"_

_Lee froze in his steps for a moment and turned back towards Andy for a few seconds and then turning back towards his group. At first, Lee considered finishing him off, but he decided to let him live because life was going to be more painful to him now then death. Lee turned away and walked towards his group._

_"Get back here and fight me like a man, Lee!" Andy taunted him, but that was not going to work. He practically pleaded for him to come back and end this. "Lee!"_

_"They're getting in!" Clementine announced as she pointed a finger towards the walkers. The generator had burned out and the walkers were now free to walk inside._

_"Leee!" Andy called out one last time._

_"Let's go..." Lee told his group as he stepped out of the farm and led the group away to safety. Regardless of what happened now, Lee knew he made the right decision and Clementine agreed with him. The St. Johns was finished._

* * *

Clementine could not really blame Kenny for saying this, especially after when the St. Johns had kidnapped his family. Andy was about to shoot Duck if Kenny came any closer, but Kenny took a bullet to the lower side of his stomach to save him. He was a great father.

Sarah looked confused for a moment, but didn't say anything.

"Were they bandits?" Luke wanted to know.

_(Announce to Luke and Sarah)_

**_(Whisper to Luke)_**

Clementine did not want Sarah to hear this and decided to whisper to instead. She leaned forward next to Luke and whispered into his ear. "They were...Cannibals. They cut off our friends legs and tried to feed them to us."

_(?) Luke will remember that._

Luke raised his eyebrows and looked a little sick. "You ain't kidding? Man, this whole thing has messed some people up more severely than others."

Clementine nodded in agreement, she could never help but cringe when she thought about the St. Johns. After finishing her breakfast, she cleared her area and decided to sit in the living room.

Since she was on her own for a while, Clementine decided to think back to her dream last night. It felt real, too real. Part of herself wanted it to be real. She wanted Lee to be with her so badly that it must have created a dream where she could be with him again.

Clementine sighed and placed her hands together whilst sitting in the armchair. It was not long until Nick had come downstairs and Clementine decided to greet him as he went past. "Hey Nick."

Nick looked cautious for a moment, probably remembering last night, but he gave Clem a smile in return. "Hey, Clem. You, uh, doing alright?" He was always really awkward when he was concerned about someone.

Clementine understood if he felt a little nervous. Ben was the same. Nevertheless, she decided to answer. "I'm doing better, thanks."

"That's good," Nick nodded. Right now, you couldn't tell that he had a short temper. He decided to sit next to Clementine on the couch and looked out the window. "Luke and I used to go sledding every year when it snowed, when we were kids."

**_("How long have you guys known each other?")_**

_("Was it fun?")_

_("I wanted to go sledding.")_

_("...")_

"How long have you guys known each other?" Clementine inquired. The only thing she knew is that they went into business with one another that failed, but other than that, they had fun working together.

"About twenty years," Nick responded, which surprised Clementine. "My parents and I moved so we could live closer to Uncle Pete, and I met Luke on the first day of school. Never really had many friends before I met him." He couldn't help but smile.

"It must have been good to have a best friend for twenty years." Clementine replied with a small smile across her face. She never had a best friend when she was younger, but she did have a few friends in school.

"Hmm, yeah, it's nice. Luke and I were roomin' together when this all started."

"You mentioned you guys, started a business, right?" Clementine asked, deciding to make conversation for a while. "What kind of business was it?"

Nick let out a half-hearted laugh. "We started a pawn shop business in the shittiest part of town," he explained. "We were actually rollin' in dough for a while, but that wore off quicker than we liked. Like I said, we were flat broke after six months."

"You tellin' her embarrassing stories, Nick?" Luke accused playfully as he walked up to them.

_("Sorry, Luke.")_

**_("I asked.")_**

_("It's not that embarrassing?")_

_("...")_

"I just wanted to know." Clementine replied whilst Luke took a seat on the couch with Nick. "I didn't really know much about you guys. I hope you don't mind."

"Nah, it's fine," Luke waved his hand. He sat in the armchair and looked out the window. "God, I hope Kenny doesn't change his mind. Rebecca and the baby are in no condition to travel in this weather."

**_("Kenny won't.")_**

_("Then don't annoy him.")_

_("Why would Kenny change his mind.")_

_("...")_

"Kenny won't." Clementine reassured, turning towards the said man who was still sitting at the cafeteria table. "We'll be here for a while. When the snow and the cold begin to pass, all of us can move up to Wellington."

_(?) Luke agrees with that plan._

"That sounds like a good idea," Luke nodded in agreement.

Nick only scoffed and rolled his eyes. No way a "safe place" like that could be real, in his opinion. He and Kenny were too much alike, and that seemed to be a bit of a problem.

_("Can we ever go back to being normal?")_

_("We can never go back to being normal.")_

**_("I wish things were normal again.")_**

_("...")_

"I wish things were normal again." Clementine wished , her hope for humanity becoming normal again still never went. "I remember when I was little and I had a family...My parents, Diana and Ed...My mom was a doctor and my dad was an engineer. I loved them so much and they loved me. They were the best parents I could ever ask for. I'd give anything to see them...And Lee one more time."

"I bet they were great people, Clem," Luke said sympathetically. "That wouldn't surprise me in the least, because you turned out great too."

Clementine looked over at him and smiled in thanks.

Clementine took off her hat and a second time and held it into her hands. She cherished this hate so much and would be lost without it. "This was my dad's hat. He gave it to me just before all this began. And my friend Lee, it has his blood on it, too..." she closed her eyes and struggled to hold back tears. "It's all I have left to remember them by."

_(?) Luke and Nick will remember that._

Nick didn't know what to say since he was awful at comforting people, so he turned towards Luke to see if he would take over. Clementine took a deep breath, she didn't need to cry in front of these guys for a second time.

"Clem..." Luke trailed off.

Clementine turned towards the older man as she placed her hat back onto her head.

"We've all been through some rough times, hell, some of us are still going through 'em. Lee and your parents...they wouldn't want you to be sad. They would all be so proud of you for holding on this long. And they'd want you to continue on."

"I know." Clementine nodded, but that did not mean she did not have to miss them.

Clementine placed her hands on her knees and decided to watch the fire a bit. She somewhat wished that she'd had a fireplace in her house, as her family would have to hang their stockings near the door at Christmas, but it wasn't like it mattered anymore. Still, it was nice to pretend that things were normal for a change.

* * *

**And we're back to reality, folks. The group are all still here in one piece and everything is going great for them so far. Let us they can remain safe for the winter that is set to come. Keep tuned for the next chapter that will be here tomorrow. What time depends on where you're from. **


	11. Chapter 11: bonding

**A place to call home**

**Chapter 11: bonding  
**

**Hey, everyone, Assassin's Creed Master here. Regarding to my earlier author's note about which season did you think was better, there was one more thing I wished season 2 had added in: another armed with death moment. Seriously, they part was amazing and the music was epic as hell. It proves what Lee would do to save Clementine no matter what. Anyway, here's chapter 11.**

* * *

Before long, every with the exception of Rebecca and her baby had awoken and ate their breakfast until they had something to do for the day. Maybe they could all get to know each other better since they would be together for a while.

Everyone sat in the living room, and those who weren't on the couch or in one of the chairs sat on the floor. There currently wasn't any work to do (plus it was too cold anyway), so they decided to talk about things they liked to do, their jobs, etcetera.

"I was a commercial fisherman before all this," Kenny spoke up first, his hand on Sarita's knee.

"You ever catch anything good?" Luke inquired.

"Anything that was payin'," Kenny replied with a shrug. "Mackerel, dolphin, that sorta thing."

"I worked in a coffee shop." Sarita said after her boyfriend was finished speaking. "It wasn't the best job in the world but it paid."

"I worked at the local hospital for around ten years." Carlos spoke up, but it did not take a genius to figure out his job. He continued whilst he and Sarah sat together on the floor. "It wasn't an easy job, but I was glad to do it if it meant helping people."

"I went to school!" Sarah piped up. "I really liked it too, even though there were these three mean girls there. But all of the teachers were really nice. My favorite subject with English!"

Carlos raised his eyebrows as he was unaware of his daughter being bullied, but he didn't make a comment. He would save that for a later time.

"I had three jobs before all this began." Alvin was the next one to speak up. "My first job was a security watchman, but I got caught sleeping."

This earned him a couple of chuckles.

"Next I worked at a local bar, but that job wasn't really much thing. And before all this, I got a job at a warehouse, helping to move stuff," Alvin finished and adjusted his glasses. "Rebecca worked as a waitress in a fancy restaurant."

"Luke and I started a pawn shop business a few years back," Nick announced. He was on the floor, leaning against the wall by the fireplace. "Long story short...it went to shit real fast." He chuckled.

"You can say that again," Luke laughed. "But it was fun, and we both know it."

"Yeah, yeah, it was," Nick smiled.

**_("I did school, too.")_**

_("Most of you us had jobs.")_

_("Sounds...Fun.")_

_("...")_

"I did school, too." Clementine spoke up whilst she was sitting in the armchair. "It was pretty fun. I got through first grade pretty easy."

The only people left to say their jobs was Walter, but Clementine already knew he use to be a teacher. That did not mean the others knew, too.

"I taught middle school for about thirty years before all this," Walter announced. "I liked my job, well...most of the time. I often found myself caught in the middle of two cliques, but Clementine already knows this." He sent a small smile over to the eleven-year-old.

Clementine smiled in return.

"Thirty years?" Carlos repeated, somewhat surprised. Nevertheless, he did not complain. "Wow, it must have been great to teach that long."

"It was wonderful," Walter replied with a nod. "I became a teacher because I thought it would be nice to help the younger generation grow a little."

"What kind of stuff did you teach?" Clementine inquired. She hoped when they found somewhere safe, maybe Walter could teach her a little. After all, knowledge is still good to learn.

"I taught literature and fine arts," Walter stated proudly. "Perhaps I could teach you a little." He turned his attention to Sarah. "And you said you liked English, would you like to learn too?"

"Yeah!" Sarah chirped, grinning widely.

_("Maybe.")_

**_("Sounds good.")_**

_("No.")_

_("...")_

"Sounds good to me." Clementine agreed. She had the feeling everything was going to be fine at this point as long as they were careful and stuck together.

And that was everyone's jobs since the apocalypse began. What else could they talk about?

AJ's loud cries could be heard coming from upstairs, signaling that everyone was now awake. Luke decided to bring up the next conversation while they waited for Rebecca to come downstairs.

"You guys wanna hear about when Nick and I jumped rooftops with friends of ours?" he spoke up, a proud smile on his face.

"Sure." Clementine nodded. She remembered Luke mentioning this when she was climbing up that metal tower.

"Hey, most of those were dares!" Nick scolded, pointing at Luke. But then again, he was smiling too.

"Yeah, MOST of them," Luke said almost sarcastically. "So anyway, we had this big guy, Charlie, right? He was the biggest damn daredevil I'd ever met. He would run all the way to the edge of the building, and then run and jump. I guess he encouraged us." Luke let out a laugh, and turned to his best friend. "Hey Nick, remember your old man catchin' us once?"

"He was an asshole," Nick responded with a grimace. Pete had been more of a father to him than his real father had.

"Did any of you get hurt?" Carlos inquired, but you could tell he was trying not to laugh. It was a first to see his humorous side.

"Someone fell once, I think," Nick replied. "Luckily it was a small building. But the kid was a dick anyway, can't remember his name now." This was the happiest the group had seen Nick since Pete had passed away, and the happiest Clem had seen him in general.

"I don't think I'd do anything like that." Sarita admitted. "I have a fear of heights."

_("Sounds stupid.")_

_("Sounds dangerous.")_

**_("Sounds fun.")_**

_("...")_

"I guess it was fun. For you guys, anyway." Clementine replied. She would never do anything that reckless, regardless of her age.

"Yeah. We were immature, but it was a shit ton of fun," Luke nodded in agreement.

Since they still had a while to kill, Clementine decided to bring up another subject that may keep them speaking for a while. "So, where are all of you from? I lived in Georgia near Atlanta."

"I was born in South Carolina," Nick raised his hand slightly. "Moved to Arkansas when I was...seven, I think. That's when I met Luke."

"I never moved from Arkansas until the world went to shit," Luke added. "Nick and I were roommates at the time. When this all started, we grabbed our families and got the hell out."

"Sarah and I grew up in Wilmington." Carlos spoke up whilst he placed an arm around his daughter. "After all this, we moved up to Carolina until we met up with Luke, Nick, Pete, Alvin, and Rebecca."

"I'm from Tallahassee." Sarita informed the group. "My family moved from India when I was very young and we lived there ever since. It was a great place."

"I was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale. Clem, you know this," Kenny nodded towards the little girl. He turned to Alvin. "What about you?"

"Me and Rebecca are from Philadelphia." Alvin answered. "Rebecca was from Cherry Hill, but after we got married, we both moved together in Philadelphia."

"So most of us came a hell of a long way," Luke commented.

The group turned as Rebecca came downstairs carrying AJ, who was wrapped in a green blanket until they could find some warm baby clothes.

Carlos had mentioned she was all right to get up and walk now, but it was best if she stayed inside the ski lodge where it was warm. But in all fairness, no one would want to leave and go out into the cold.

"Rebecca." Alvin greeted and went to greet his wife with a kiss. The two sat back down together on the couch which meant Kenny had to get up to make room, but he did not mind. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feel a lot better." Rebecca answered after she sat down and held her baby in her arms. Everyone admired AJ and all his eyes met him. "Anything I miss?"

**_("Nothing much.")_**

_("Just talking, really.")_

_("A lot of things.")_

_("...")_

"Nothing much." Clementine shrugged. "We were all just talking about our jobs and where we came from."

"It's nice that we can all learn to get along and get to know each other," Walter said with a small smile.

"I agree." Carlos agreed.

Rebecca slowly rocked AJ back to forth until he was sleeping peacefully. She began whispering towards him to avoid waking him up. "Who's a perfect little man? You are. Who's going to be big and strong when he grows up? You are."

Before long, a couple of eyes averted towards Walter. He was the only one who had not mentioned his home, but they assumed he was from around here somewhere since he and Matthew use to come to this ski lodge quite often.

"Matthew and I, we used to vacation here when given the chance," Walter explained. "I met him in college while living in Phoenix, Arizona." After receiving surprised looks from some of the group, Walter continued. "We would come here to get away from the scorching temperatures and crowded areas."

_**("It sounded great.")**_

_("How far is Arizona?")_

_("You were in college?")_

_("...")_

"Sounded like it use to be a great time for you guys." Clementine spoke up. She could still tell he was upset with Matthew's death, but he was getting there slowly.

The group heard a sound from outside, and Kenny grumbled.

"Shit, that blizzard's comin' soon," he announced. "Better go and check that wind turbine."

"I'll go with you." Sarita offered, following Kenny towards the exit of the ski lodge.

"With that storm, it's best we keep the fire going." Carlos suggested, standing up and proceeding towards the fireplace.

"We'll be able to stay warm if we just stay inside," Luke reassured the group.

"I hope so," said Sarah. "I don't like the cold."

"We'll be okay, honey." Carlos assured his daughter as he finished putting another log inside the fire.

It took Kenny and Sarita a couple of minute to return. When they did, their clothes and their hair were covered in snow. That storm was almost upon them.

"It's freezing out there." Sarita stated the obvious as she set her rifle down and sat near the fire to keep warm.

"No kiddin'," Kenny agreed, taking his hat off and brushing the snow out of his hair.

"Looks like we're going to have something that you don't need to cook for dinner tonight if the power goes." Alvin stated with an arm over his wife who was still holding AJ in her arms.

"You're probably right," Walter agreed. "Although I hope we don't lose power."

"Let's just all keep calm for now and wait until the storm passes." Carlos suggested as he took a seat again next to his daughter on the floor. "It might be a while now."

It was mostly silent for the next few minutes as everyone sat in the living room, Carlos's arm around Sarah's shoulders to keep her warm and Alvin doing the same for Rebecca.

"It would be nice to have some Christmas music, y'know?" Luke broke the silence.

"Hell, it would be nice to have any music," Kenny agreed. "Hey Walt, why don't you put us in one of those CDs?"

Walter nodded and went to go put some music on for a while.

_("We could continue talking.")_

**_("We could play a game.")_**

_("What can we do?")_

_("...")_

"We could play a game." Clementine suggested, but that was just an idea that popped into her mind.

Sarah lit up like a light bulb. "Like what?" she asked.

"Um...?" Clementine trailed off. "Charades? Poker? Eye-spy?"

"Been awhile since I've played eye-spy," Nick chuckled. "Anyone wanna go first?"

_("H.")_

_("T.")_

**_("F.")_**

_("...")_

"Eye-spy with my little eye, something beginning with F." Clementine began.

"The fireplace?" Luke asked.

"Yeah...that was fast." Clementine replied, now wishing she picked something that wasn't obvious.

"Well, it's the only thing that starts with an F," Kenny chuckled. "I'll go next, I guess. I spy something...green."

_("The tree?")_

**_("Your jacket?")_**

_("The blanket?")_

_("...")_

"Your jacket?" Clementine guessed.

"Nope, keep guessin'."

"AJ's blanket?" Nick asked.

"Nope."

"The trees outside?" Sarita asked.

"Close," Kenny smirked.

"Oh, I know!" Sarah exclaimed, but not too loudly so she wouldn't disturb AJ. "The Christmas tree!"

Kenny nodded. "That's it. Who wants to go next?"

"I'll go." Sarita spoke up, looking around for a moment to find something to guess with. "I spy something...Red."

"Walter's shirt?" Luke asked.

"That pillow there?" Nick glanced at a little red pillow sitting in the corner.

"Nope." Sarita shook her head to both of their guesses.

"Sarah's glasses?" Clementine guessed.

"Yes, that's it." Sarita answered with a smile. This game was actually getting a little fun. "Who's going next?"

Carlos volunteered, which was a little surprising to everyone since he wasn't really one to participate in games.

"I spy with my eye, something beginning with...D."

Clementine scanned around. What could Carlos be thinking that started with a D?

"The door?" Sarita asked.

"Nope."

"The D on Clem's hat?" Luke asked.

"Yes, that's it." Carlos answered.

_("That's not fair.")_

_("How was I suppose to see that?")_

**_("I can't see that.")_**

_("...")_

"Hey, I can't see that." Clementine argued in a somewhat playful way, but at the same time, she felt it was a little unfair.

Everyone chuckled in response. The group continued playing games and talked for a while until night time had arrived and it was time for bed. Life in the ski lodge was turning pretty great so far and if Wellington was real, that would make life normal again. They had to try, no matter what.

* * *

**Chapter 11 is over, ladies and gentlemen. I know nothing much happened in the chapter, this was just to show character development and get the characters to bond with one another. Next chapter will be the final chapter from A Writer With Mixed Interests and I. Stay tuned.**


	12. Chapter 12: a place to call home

**A place to call home**

**Chapter 12: a place to call home**

**Ladies and gentlemen, we are brought to the end of the story which is sad because people do not like it when things come to an end, but unfortunately, everything has to end. But you know what they say "When one chapter ends, another begins". Here's chapter 12, folks, enjoy.**

* * *

"Is everyone ready to go?" Kenny announced to everyone.

Quite a bit of time had passed now. The group had just finished breakfast and was getting ready to leave for Wellington. They all hoped that they would make it safely without any problems. Once the entire group was ready, then they would head out.

Clementine zipped up her jacket and put her backpack on her back. Inside she had her photo of Lee, her drawing of Kenny, Katjaa and Duck, and a couple of snacks and drinks.

Carlos carried all of their medical supplies in his huge backpack and kept a Glock 17 with him just in case.

Alvin had all of their camping supplies in a backpack for when they needed to rest, but at the same time, he would need to protect his wife and their baby.

Walter carried all of their food in his own backpack with a couple of books inside. After all, he did promise to teach Clementine and Sarah some knowledge.

As for the others, Luke, Nick, Kenny and Sarita were armed with rifles and pistols.

"We're ready." Carlos announced, doing a quick check to make sure everyone was here and accounted for, especially Sarah who stood close to him.

So the group walked out of the ski lodge, knowing that if Wellington was a bust, they could always come back here where it was guaranteed to be safe.

Luke and Nick were the two furthest back, and when Luke turned around to take a final look at Moonstar Lodge, he saw something. A redheaded woman was searching around with an AK-47 in her hands, but she didn't seem to notice them. Luke's eyes widened and he turned his attention to the group without being too loud.

"Oh, shit. Everybody, we gotta hustle," he announced.

"What's going on?" Clementine inquired, turning back for a moment to see the red haired woman.

**_("Who's that?")_**

_("Is she lost?")_

_("Hey!")_

_("...")_

"Who's that?" Clementine inquired, picking up the pace a little with the others.

"She's with Carver's group." Carlos answered, now worried that Carver had finally caught up to them. He noticed a couple of the group members looking fearful and had to assure them it was fine. "Nobody panic. Let's just head into the woods and keep moving. We'll lose her in there."

Sarah's breathing picked up slightly, but she was trying hard to calm down, especially when Carlos placed a hand on her shoulder for comfort. The group went in the opposite direction of the bridge where Matthew was shot and killed and headed into the woods. Luckily, no one ambushed them, meaning that they were all safe.

"It's okay, sweetie, we're okay." Carlos assured his daughter after they were done running. He kept his arm around Sarah for comfort as they walked through the woods. "They don't know where we are, they just happened to find the ski lodge by coincidence. They'll just assume that it's been abandoned for quite some time."

Clementine looked back, but they ski lodge was now blocked off by trees and bushes. They would be safe as long as they kept moving.

"How long should it take to get to Wellington?" Nick asked.

"I'm not sure...Kenny has the map." Sarita answered as she turned towards her boyfriend who led the way.

Said bearded man pulled out the map from his pocket and looked at it. "A little hard to tell, but I'm figuring we got at least several days ahead of us."

_("It's going to be tough.")_

_("Should we go back?")_

**_("We can make it.")_**

_("...")_

"We can make it." Clementine assured the group as she picked up the pace a little to keep up with Kenny. "All we have to do is keep moving."

_(?) They will remember that._

"She's right." Alvin agreed, keeping close to Rebecca who was holding their baby, but she was fine at the moment and could walk under her own strength.

"I think if we travel during the day and only rest at night, we could make it up north sooner than later," Luke spoke up. "What do you think?"

"Sounds good to me." Clementine agreed.

"And me." Carlos spoke up.

"I have no problem with that." Sarita stated.

"So it's settled then," Luke said with a satisfied smile.

The group had been moving for at least an hour now and was making some progress from the woods. Occasionally, a couple of them wood look back to make sure no-one was following them. And so far no walkers had shown up, but that did not mean they were safe yet.

A rustling noise came out from the nearby bushes. Walter pointed his rifle all around, making sure nothing would jump out at them.

The rustling continued and out came a raccoon with her two babies following closely. The mother raccoon looked towards the group for a moment before running away into the woods, her offspring following closely.

"Shit, we used to have to eat raccoon," Luke shook his head.

"I told you they have families!" Sarah piped up, but she was smiling.

_("Looks delicious.")_

**_("We have enough food.")_**

_("I'm glad it got away.")_

_("...")_

"We got plenty of food, we'll be all right." Clementine reassured, but deep down, she was somewhat glad that the raccoon got away. She remembered seeing one in her tree house just before the apocalypse began.

"Let's keep moving." Carlos ordered, turning back towards the direction they were heading in.

* * *

Hours of being on the road passed and soon night fell. Luke, Nick, and Alvin gathered firewood and stocked up, while Walter and Kenny kept the guns in check.

"I'll keep watch for a while." Alvin announced, picking up a rifle and taking a seat just near the outside of their camp.

Clementine sat down near the fire and rubbed her hands together. She was a little cold, but not as bad as it would have been a few weeks back.

Kenny took a seat next to her after keeping check of the guns. "How you doin', Clem? Looking forward to making it?"

**_("I can't wait.")_**

_("I hope it's there.")_

_("Yeah.")_

_("...")_

"I can't wait." Clementine answered, rubbing her hands together for a little while to keep warm. "I hope Christa will be there too."

"It would be nice to see her again," Kenny nodded in agreement. "How long ago did you say you two got separated? A month or two?"

"Around five or six weeks, I think." Clementine answered, having to think for a moment. She was certain Christa was alive.

Christa was smart, and she wouldn't be alive anymore if she weren't. No way could she have died.

Kenny sighed. "I'm sorry that happened to you, darlin'. But we'll see her again, I know it."

"I bet she'll be even more surprised to see you than me." Clementine admitted with a teasing smile. If she found Christa again, she could not wait to see her face when she saw Kenny, that's if she remembered Kenny behind that beard of his.

_(?) Kenny will remember that._

Kenny laughed. "We could tell her I'm a ghost," he said playfully, nudging Clementine.

"I know walkers exist, but ghosts?" Clementine chuckled before sighing and looking up towards the stars. "Do you have any thoughts what Wellington's like?"

Kenny sighed and looked up as well. "God, I hope it's safe," he muttered. "Maybe it's barricaded somehow, or just has a ton of guards. We won't know until we get there. But I promise you, Clem, we'll be safe."

"Safe." Clementine repeated that word that she heard one too many times. "I hope so. I imagined Wellington to be like a small town where life was normal again. People were happy; people didn't need to worry about the outside world anymore."

"You keep that imagination, and hope that it's real," Kenny praised, giving the little girl a smile. "Well, I think we should get some sleep, Clem. We've got a long journey ahead of us in the morning."

Clementine looked around and saw that members of the group were beginning to turn in as well, so it was probably a good idea. Slowly, Clementine got down onto her side and rested her head in her arms, wondering what the future what hold for her and her friends when they reached Wellington. Would it really be there? Would it be somewhere safe? They had to keep going, no matter what. It was their only option left now.

* * *

_Ten days later_

Ten days had passed since the group had left the ski lodge and since then, they had done nothing but kept moving through the woods. Along the way, a couple of the group like Luke and Nick were beginning to have doubts, but there was no going back now after coming this far.

"Alright, I'm startin' to think this is all bullshit for real," Nick whispered to Luke in hopes that Kenny wouldn't hear them.

Unfortunately for him, Kenny was actually standing right in front of him, walking next to Sarita, and had heard every word. He turned around and glared at Nick.

"Why are you so damn negative all the time, Vanilla Ice?" he barked rudely. "We gotta be close by now, I just know it!"

"Dad, look! I see something!"

Sarah's voice caught the attention of everyone, and looked where she was pointing.

Just above a hill slope they could see the top of the building? Was it Wellington? Did they finally make it? Before anyone could question, Kenny went pacing up the hill, Clementine followed, and soon the rest of the group followed them up towards the hill. When they got to the top, their eyes widened and their jaws dropped.

Standing before them was a huge building structure. A metal wall went down to the left and right for miles and in the center was the entrance made by metal containers. This had to be it.

Kenny's smile rose as he turned back towards Clementine and placed his hand upon her shoulder.

"We did it, Clementine. Just like I said we would," Kenny breathed. He turned around and faced the rest of the group. "Well, come on, y'all! What are we waitin' for?"

The group quickly got out of their daze and began to follow Kenny and Clementine over to the entrance of the building, but a gunshot cut them off, causing some of the group to gasp out.

"That's far enough," a woman's voice rang out. "Drop your weapons and approach the gate, please."

_(Keep gun)_

**_(Drop gun)_**

Clementine dropped her Glock 17, and everybody else obeyed her order and dropped their weapons, too. Carlos stood in front of his daughter in a protective manner and Rebecca held her baby close with Alvin standing in front of her.

The group walked slowly and stood in front of the large red metal gates. The woman whose voice was heard over the intercom appeared then. She spoke into a walkie-talkie and turned her attention.

"Hi, I'm Edith," she introduced herself. "Welcome. May I have your names, please?"

Everyone decided to introduce themselves to the stranger.

**_("I'm Clementine.")_**

_("I'm Carley.")_

_("I'm Lilly.")_

_("...")_

"Hi." Clementine greeted, deciding to be honest. "I'm Clementine."

"I'm Carlos, this is my daughter Sarah."

"I'm Alvin; this is my wife Rebecca and our son AJ."

"Hello. I'm Sarita."

"I'm Luke, and this is Nick."

"I'm Walter."

"And my name's Kenny."

Edith seemed to repeat all of these names in her head, and she seemed to think for a while.

"Is this Wellington?" Clementine inquired, wanting to make certain they were in the right place, but what else could this fortress be?

"Many people call it that," Edith nodded once.

"Well, what do we have to do to get in?" Kenny questioned.

"You're all in luck, we have just enough room for every one of you," Edith replied with a smile. "We were over-capacity until recently when a group decided to give the outside world a shot."

"Really?" Luke asked with a shocked expression.

"Why would they want leave if they were staying here?" Carlos inquired, a curious eyebrow raised.

Sarah stood behind him and by the looks of it; she could not wait to get inside.

"The people who left were with us since near the beginning, said that they had families," Edith explained with a remorseful look.

"What's going on?" a new voice chimed in. Another woman appeared at the window, a woman who was very, very familiar to both Clementine and Kenny. Clementine gasped in shock.

_("Holy shit!")_

_("I thought you were dead.")_

**_("Christa!")_**

_("...")_

"Christa!" Clementine gasped. Kenny stood beside her.

Christa immediately whipped around. "C-Clementine? KENNY?"

"You know these people?" Edith inquired.

Without answering, the gates opened, and Christa ran out and knelt in front of Clementine, placing her hands on the child's shoulders. "Oh my God...I can't believe you're both alive!"

Kenny chuckled. "Good to see you, too."

Christa stood up and looked at the rest of the group. She turned to Edith and said, "Let them in."

Edith nodded and beckoned for the group to come inside. Clementine, Kenny and Christa all smiled as they made their way inside.

The group was even more surprised to see the inside. Small buildings in the size of their old cabin were along the walls, huge restaurants with stocked up food, medical buildings and a weapons buildings. People were walking around, looking clean, well-fed, and happy. Everyone looked around in shock at how wonderful this place looked. Luke looked like he was going to pass out, so Alvin placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

Kenny nudged Nick and smirked at him. "You believe me now?" he nearly scoffed.

"Yeah, yeah," Nick waved him off, still gazing in awe at all of his surroundings.

"This place is s-o-o-o-o cool!" Sarah chirped, beaming and turning around to look at Carlos.

Edith escorted them to one of the empty buildings and held the door open for them. This is where they were going to be staying.

_("Is this real?")_

**_("Wow.")_**

_("Pinch me.")_

_("...")_

"Wow." Clementine still looked surprised, looking down the path where a playground was nearby with young kids playing.

"Why don't you all pick out your rooms and settle in for a bit?" Edith suggested when they were inside the building. "We can introduce you to the community in a little while. Unless you're willing to do that now?"

"We would like to settle in first, thank you." Carlos said, speaking for the rest of the group.

Edith nodded and she left to go back to her guard position. Christa decided to stay with them to make sure they were settled.

Most of the group headed upstairs to choose their rooms, but Clementine and Kenny stayed downstairs so they could catch up with Christa.

It was incredibly rare to see Christa smile after the deaths of Omid and their baby, but now she was smiling widely. She wrapped her arm around Clementine's shoulders and pulled her in for a quick hug. "I'm so glad I found you, Clementine. So tell me, what happened while we were separated? How did you find Kenny?"

"Her group came to the ski lodge Sarita and Walter and I were stayin' at," Kenny explained. "They were running away from some maniac, I think. Right, Clem?"

"Yeah, that's right." Clementine nodded but at the moment, she wanted to ask the most obvious. "Christa, what happened to you after I distracted the bandits? One of them chased me but walkers got him. And I found the other one dying a couple of days later."

"One of them tried to shoot me, but they missed, and I kept running," Christa began. "I tried to find you, and I eventually assumed that the worst had happened. I found another map to Wellington and I just kept walking. I was lucky; I was the last one they let in before they were over-capacity."

_("I missed you.")_

_("I thought you were dead.")_

**_("I'm glad you're all right.")_**

_("...")_

"I'm glad you're all right." Clementine admitted with a smile. She was glad to have them both back. "I met up with my friends after we got separated. A dog bit me, but Carlos fixed my arm, he's a doctor. There was another group member but he died. We met with Kenny and we all headed here together."

_(?) Christa will remember that._

Christa seemed partial with that answer. "Well, I'm sure you and your friends are going to enjoy it here."

"Hell, I already am!" Kenny piped up. "We're at a place where we can finally feel safe, and I'm glad for that."

"Me, too." Clementine agreed as she lowered her head for a moment. If only Lee was here.

Before long, the rest of the group came into living that was big enough to fit three couches inside. They joined with Clementine, Kenny and Christa.

"I get the top bunk," Luke teased Nick, poking his slightly younger friend on the shoulder.

"The hell you do!" Nick argued, a wide grin spreading across his face.

Clementine couldn't help but smile and roll her eyes at the two men.

"This place is amazing." Carlos told Christa. "We are very grateful to be here where it's safe."

"I'm glad about that," Christa nodded as the group sat down.

AJ began to wail in Rebecca's arms, meaning that he was probably hungry. Rebecca and Alvin hoped that this place had some baby formula.

"Do you guys stock up on baby formula?" Rebecca inquired as Alvin looked into one of their bags to see how much they had left.

"We only got two bottles left." Alvin added, handing the bottle of milk to his wife.

"We have plenty," Christa reassured them. "I'll be right back."

She walked off and returned a couple of minutes later with a box filled with baby formula, handing it over to the married couple.

"So, what does everyone think of this place so far?" Kenny questioned everyone.

"I think it's wonderful." Sarita was the first to speak after she took a seat down next to Kenny.

"I think this is a great place." Carlos agreed.

"I think this place this amazing." Clementine said astounded. She could not believe she was finally in a place where they would no longer have to fear the outside world.

All of the rumors she had heard of a safe place before were immediately disputed, there was such a thing after all. Clementine couldn't help but think of Lee and her parents, desperately wishing that they were all here.

"I think we'll settle in quite nicely here," Walker spoke up, looking around the somewhat large house and looking satisfied.

_("It's over now.")_

_("I still can't believe it.")_

**_("We're safe now.")_**

_("...")_

"We can finally be safe now." Clementine stated with a relieved and grateful smile across her face. "No more walkers, no more bandits. We're going to be okay."

_(?) Everyone agrees with Clementine._

"I think so, too, Clem," Luke nodded in agreement, smiling back at her.

The group was thankful that they no longer had to go through periods of an agonizing mental hell. People who promised to keep their loved ones safe (for example, Carlos and Kenny) could actually fulfill that promise. Clementine was extremely glad that the group could finally get along without breaking down.

Wellington was now their place to call home.

* * *

**The end. The group has made it to Wellington where they can live freely and peacefully, and Christa is alive and well. Thank you all for reading, and special thank you to _A Writer With Mixed Interests_ for writing this story with me.**

**Assassin's Creed Master out.**

**Disclaimer: The Walking Dead is owned by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, Charlie Adlard, and Telltale Games.**

**Melissa Hutchison voice of Clementine**

**Scott Porter voice of Luke**

**Brian Bremer voice of Nick**

**Andrew "Kid Beyond" Chaikin voice of Carlos**

**Louisa Mackintosh voice of Sarah**

**Shay Moore voice of Rebecca**

**Dorian Lockett voice of Alvin**

**Gavin Hammon voice of Kenny**

**Julia Farmer voice of Sarita**

**Kiff VandenHeuvel voice of Walter**

****Rebecca Schweitzer voice of Edith****

****Mara Junot voice of Christa****

**Dave Fennoy voice of Lee Everett **

**Cissy Jones voice of Katjaa**

**Max Kaufman voice of Kenny Jr. "Duck"**

**Roger Jackson voice of Charles "Chuck" and The Stranger**

**Mara Junot voice of Christa**

**Owen Thomas voice of Omid**

**Trevor Hoffmann voice of Ben Paul**

**Nikki Rapp voice of Lilly**

****Nicole Vigil voice of Carley****

****Adam Harrington voice of Andrew "Andy" St. John****


End file.
